Bitter Jealousy
by Silver Wolf Eyes
Summary: SLASH SR Sirius's life seems to be missing something, but it isn't until they are invited to America by an old friend who starts hitting on Remus does Sirius know why. Remus isn't his... but can he ever be? {COMPLETED}
1. A Letter from an Old Friend

Title: Bitter Jealousy  
  
Author: Silver Wolf Eyes  
  
Rating: R (Well, it will probably end up like it in later chapters. So just to be on the safe side...)  
  
Genre: Romance and Humor  
  
Summary: Sirius's life is perfect now that Voldemort is gone, almost, but something seems to be missing. Then Remus gets invited to visit an old school mate who lives in America and Sirius tags along. Jason, or Jay as he likes to be called nowadays, starts to hit on the golden-eyed werewolf, but it isn't until Remus starts to respond to the flirting does Sirius finally know why his life isn't right. Remus isn't his... but can he ever be?  
  
Coupling: Sirius/Remus, Remus/OMC  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything. I am just borrowing them for my own entertainment purpose and promise to put them back when I'm done.  
  
Warning: This story contains slash, as in a male/male relationship. If you don't like it, don't read it. Don't flame... I warned you in the summary. This is also an AU story, and people who have read OotP know why. I don't want to give anything away. I am very much in denial anyway.  
  
I haven't been to an airport since I was somewhere around six so I'm doing the security checks the old way since I have no clue how they do it now. And I have entirely no idea how things are done outside of America (I don't get out much lol). If I don't get everything, or anything, right, please, somebody tell me and I will gladly change it.  
  
Beware of my Marty Sue. Sorry, I kind of had to so the story would work out. Hope its ok! Though, if you guys want me to, I could make him a nasty little shit. I could even balance it out with a little of both! It's completely up to you!  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
~A Letter from an Old Friend~  
  
Sirius blinked his eyes open to the early morning rays of sun that shone through his window. He casually flung his arms over his head and stretched, listening to the satisfying sound of his back popping a few times. Sitting up in bed, he smiled as he looked around the room.  
  
It never ceased to amaze him every time he woke up he wasn't dreaming about the night before. For once in his life everything was great. Harry had defeated Voldemort in his seventh year as many had planned, and was now living in an apartment not to far from here. He was cleared of his false accusations when Pettigrew had been dragged to court, forced to drink Veritaserum, and finally revealed what truly happened that horrible day. Remus was still his best friend and the two became roommates and shared a two-story house just outside of London. Yes, everything was perfect... but... why wasn't he happy?  
  
Sirius wasn't a greedy person. He was truly grateful to finally have a normal life where he wasn't hiding from dementors or the Ministry, or fighting powerfully dangerous, overbearing wizards, but something wasn't... right, for a lack of words. It felt as though something was missing.  
  
A soft thump came at his door. Sirius threw his legs over the side and strode over to it knowing full well who was knocking.  
  
He opened the door and yawned, "M-Morning, Mooney."  
  
Remus had an amused look on his face, "You know, you could have grabbed a pair of trousers before you opened the door."  
  
Sirius looked down at himself seeing he only had on a pair of navy blue silk boxers. He looked back up, "Now, would I actually have to put on the pants, or could I just throw them at you for interrupting my morning silence?"  
  
Remus gave the dark-haired man a little shove, "You know exactly what I mean."  
  
Sirius chuckled, "What do you want?"  
  
Remus thought for a second, "Oh... breakfast will be ready soon, so get dressed. You are *not* eating in your boxers again."  
  
Sirius gave him a sad look, "Awe... please?"  
  
The sandy-blonde smiled inwardly, but put on his best stern face, "Don't you give me those puppy dog eyes, Sirius Ian Black. You're not the one who has to look over to see the person he's eating with almost completely naked."  
  
Sirius grinned, "You like it."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes, "Sometimes, Sirius, you are so full of yourself it's a wonder how you can eat at all without exploding."  
  
"Yeah, I should be ashamed," Sirius lowered his head looking guilty, but gazed back up with a gleam in his eyes, "But with a body like this; what do I have to be ashamed about?"  
  
Remus pushed Sirius into his bedroom, a smile spreading across his lips, "I don't know why I put up with you. Get dressed and come downstairs."  
  
The blond turned around and headed out the door. Sirius had a small grin on his face. He never said what he had to be dressed *in*.  
  
Remus started to close the door, but turned back around, "And dressed, as in a shirt and trousers, not just boxers and your robe hanging open." With that he walked out shutting the door behind him.  
  
Sirius was going to chuck a pillow at the door, but couldn't get to one in time. He chuckled to himself, "How does he always know what I'm up too?"  
  
The raven-haired man sighed and walked over to his closet. He grabbed a black over shirt and a dark pair of jeans and went into his bathroom. He got dressed quickly, pinning his long hair back in his favorite black tie.  
  
Downstairs in the kitchen, Remus was already sitting at the table eating and reading a copy of 'The Daily Prophet'. He barely looked up, "On the stove."  
  
Sirius grabbed a plate and immediately began filling it with food. He sat across from his roomy glancing up at him every so often. Halfway through his plate, a small pecking sound came from the window.  
  
Remus finally looked up from his paper and sauntered over to the window. Upon opening it, a large, white barn owl came swooping into the room. Sirius looked up from his plate, watching as the bird circled around the room before abruptly landing smack-dab on his head.  
  
The sandy-blonde suppressed a laugh as Sirius shooed the bird away. It hooted noisily before perching squarely on Remus's shoulder.  
  
"Oh sure," Sirius grumbled, "the bird lands on your shoulder, but lands on my head."  
  
Remus smiled. The bird stuck out his leg and he carefully untied an envelope from it. He walked over to Sirius and stole the half piece of toast from his plate and gave it to the owl.  
  
"Hey!" Sirius looked up watching as the bird started munching, "That was mine!"  
  
"You're right," Remus chuckled, "That *was* yours. Now it's his."  
  
Sirius grumbled, "Damn bird."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes and sat back down in his seat, opened the envelope, and took out a single beige piece of parchment. Meanwhile, the owl hopped off of his current roost and onto the table. It proceeded to sneak over to Sirius's plate and snatched a piece of bacon before it shot into the air.  
  
Sirius looked up, "You had better fly away! Come down here bird and I'll eat *you*!"  
  
When he finally stopped shouting at the owl, he looked over at Remus who seemed to be engaged in the letter he was reading.  
  
"What is it, Mooney?"  
  
Remus looked up from the letter and across the table, "Do you remember back in the fifth year, we had an American transfer student by the name of Jason Randall?"  
  
Sirius scrambled his brain, "Uh... no..."  
  
Remus shook his head, "Remember? He was the kid always tagging along behind me. The one that everyone picked on because he was so scrawny?"  
  
Sirius thought harder, "Did he have... red hair, lots of freckles, and could quite possible be the lost Weasley relative?"  
  
"Yeah, that's him!"  
  
"Nope, don't remember."  
  
Remus thumped his head against the table, "Sirius."  
  
"What?" Sirius grinned, "Of course I remember him. How could I forget? He was your shadow for a whole year! Me and James had a bet on whether he would get stuck up your arse the next time you sat down."  
  
Remus looked up at this, "Well he never did; so who won?"  
  
"James did."  
  
Remus dropped his head back down on the table.  
  
"You know you could get permanent brain damage by doing that."  
  
His reply was another bang on the table.  
  
"If you say so," Sirius set his fork down, "So what about him?"  
  
Remus finally lifted his head, "Well, Jason wrote saying he was doing very well and he wanted me to drop by for a while. He said I could bring someone else along."  
  
"So... what? I thought he went back to America. Is he here in town or something?"  
  
Remus coughed, "Not exactly... He wants us to come to America."  
  
Sirius, at the time, had been drinking from his cup of coffee. Poor Remus got his second shower of the day.  
  
"Ugg," he wiped some of the brown liquid off his face, "Did you have to do that?"  
  
Sirius ignored him, "America?"  
  
"Yeah," the blonde took a towel from the table and began wiping his arms off, "What's the big shock?"  
  
"I don't know. I guess it just took me by surprise."  
  
"Yeah, and I got the surprise..."  
  
"Oh," Sirius got up and wet a paper towel, "Sorry 'bout that."  
  
Remus took the proffered towel and began wiping the rest of the coffee from his shirt, "Its fine. So are you coming?"  
  
"Coming? To America? You're not serious, Rems? And just to see that scrawny shadow of yours?"  
  
"Come on, Sirius, it could be fun. We need to get out a little more anyway."  
  
"How about expenses? We don't have money to vacation halfway across the globe!"  
  
Remus looked down at his letter, "It says he'd pay for us."  
  
"Pay for us? With what?"  
  
"Jason says he's doing pretty well."  
  
"Him do well? Think about that for a moment, Remmy. 'Jet-lag' Jason. The person who came halfway across the globe and never seemed to fall back into time! He barely talked to anybody but you!"  
  
"Maybe because I was only one of few who was actually nice to him. The poor guy was nervous as hell and everyone else just made it worse."  
  
"Maybe he would have been treated differently if he hadn't come into the Great Hall like it was the gateway to hell tripping over his own feet. He was a klutz."  
  
"I don't care. I think it would be nice to see him again. I'm gonna go. The only question is, are you?"  
  
Sirius stared intensely into his roommates eyes for a minute then sighed in frustration, "Fine, I give in. I can't have you wondering around by yourself in America."  
  
"I won't be by myself. Jason says he'd show me around."  
  
"Jason probably doesn't even know where *he* is," he grumbled.  
  
Remus got up and began rummaging around in a kitchen drawer. He produced another piece of parchment and a quill.  
  
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Writing back to Jason saying we'll be thrilled to come."  
  
Sirius muttered something incoherent.  
  
Remus rolled up the paper and beckoned for the barn owl to come down off of the fridge. He tied the scroll to the bird's leg and watched it fly out the window.  
  
"Well, this will be fun."  
  
Sirius eyed his best friend, "When exactly are we leaving?"  
  
"One week."  
  
"And where exactly are we going?"  
  
"To tell you the truth, I've never heard of the place. It's some place called the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri."  
  
Sirius shook his head, "Why on earth would he live there?"  
  
"I don't know, but it sounds nice," he looked at the dark man's sulking face, "Cheer up, I'm sure you'll have fun."  
  
"How are we getting there?" Sirius grunted.  
  
"Jason said it wouldn't be a good idea to apparate since we don't know exactly where we're going, or use a portkey since it's such a long distance. He suggested we fly."  
  
"Fly? As in broomsticks? Do you know how sore my arse would be if we flew all the way to America on broomsticks? We aren't as young as we use to be, Moony."  
  
"No, not broomsticks; airplane. And who are you calling old?"  
  
Sirius held up his hands in defense, "I didn't call anybody old. You know you're beginning to sound like me?"  
  
Remus cracked a smile, "Oh no! I'm turning into you! Somebody, please shoot me!"  
  
Sirius flicked a piece of egg at Remus with his fork hitting him right in the face.  
  
Remus scrunched up his nose and wiped the food off, "Sirius Ian Black! Do I have to remind you to not play with your food, or fling it at me?!"  
  
Sirius lowered his head and looked sullen, giving the blonde puppy eyes.  
  
"Oh no! Not those eyes again, Sirius!" Remus continued to stare, breaking easily. He grumbled, "Fine, alright, Sirius, I'm not mad! Will you cut that out?!"  
  
Sirius immediately perked up, "So what am I suppose to do for a week?"  
  
Remus sighed, "Go pack."  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Yeah, because you're bound to forget something. You always do."  
  
"I do not!"  
  
Remus stared at Sirius.  
  
"Well," Sirius glared back, "not all the time."  
  
Remus let out a snort and headed out of the kitchen, "Sure, Sirius. Whatever you say." 


	2. Old Memories

~Old Memories~  
  
The days past by in a blur, and before either of them knew it, a week had been spent. Remus had just casually set his two suitcases by the front door when he heard a door slam upstairs.  
  
"Mooooony!" Sirius whined from upstairs, "Get up here and help me!"  
  
Remus chuckled half from exhaustion, half from frustration. Sirius couldn't do *anything* that required any amount of brain activity by himself.  
  
"Help you with what?" Remus shouted back up to him.  
  
"I can't find something!" another door slammed.  
  
Remus rubbed at his eyes, but forced himself to climb the stairs to the Sirius-amuck havoc that was the second floor. He finally found Sirius in his bathroom crawling on the floor.  
  
Remus leaned against the doorframe, "One, what are you looking for, and two, why would it be in my lavatory?"  
  
"I can't find my hair tie and I've looked everywhere else!"  
  
The sandy-blonde would have laughed 'till tears shone in his eyes, but the scene before him was a little more then pathetic, "Sirius, you have at least a dozen ties. How could you loose them all?"  
  
"I didn't loose them all, but I lost my favorite one!"  
  
"You have a favorite hair tie?" Remus raised an eyebrow. He was deeply concentrating on the difference between a five year old loosing her beloved teddy bear and Sirius right now. There wasn't much of one.  
  
"Yeah, it's the black one that you gave me! The first one I ever had!" Sirius finally got up off the floor and looked at the blonde who was trying so hard not to laugh.  
  
"You still have that?" Remus was sort of shocked. He had given that to Sirius in their fifth year when he got fed up with his hair falling in his face all the time.  
  
"Yeah I still have that! It's like a memorial for the Marauders!"  
  
Remus looked a little lost, "A memorial? For what?"  
  
Sirius looked shocked, "You don't remember?"  
  
"Um..." Remus shook his head, "No..."  
  
"You don't have any idea what you said when you gave it to me?" Sirius continued to stare wide-eyed.  
  
The sandy-blonde continued to shake his head, "What did I say?"  
  
Sirius started to laugh and did a great Remus imitation, "Sirius, take this and tie your bloody hair out of your face before I fucking cut it off while you're asleep!"  
  
Remus just stared as the raven-haired man continued to laugh, "So?"  
  
Sirius quit laughing, "So? So?!! Rems, that was the first time you had cursed in your entire life! The rest of us had been trying to get you to do that since we met you, and all it took was for me to just not cut my hair! Don't you remember that we practically threw a party that night?"  
  
Remus scrambled through his memories and he finally remembered. When he said that to Sirius, the whole common room had gone quiet before it erupted in cheers, laughter, and congratulations to both him and Sirius. His face had been red the entire night, especially when Sirius had carried him around on his shoulders for at least fifteen minutes. That was before he had a chance to get a hold of something from the ceiling, he thought it was a decoration, and knock them both off balance sending them onto a couch. He guessed with all the pressure from the O.W.L.S., the fifth years would celebrate anything and the rest of the house would join in no matter what.  
  
Remus knocked his head against the doorframe he was leaning on, "Leave it up to you to remember *that*."  
  
"So you do remember!" Sirius grinned, "Besides, what kind of Marauder would I be if I didn't memorize that history-in-the-making moment?"  
  
"History-in-the-making moment?"  
  
"Yeah, and now I can't find the monument that documents said historic moment!"  
  
Remus continued to lean his body back against the doorframe and smiled, "Sometimes, Padfoot, you are an arse."  
  
"Ha! See, you wouldn't have said that to me if I didn't keep my hair untidy because you probably would have never cursed!"  
  
Remus just banged his head against the doorframe.  
  
"You know, you have a bad habit of doing that?"  
  
Remus just thumped his head again.  
  
Sirius shook his head, "Ok, Moony, you can do that later. Just help me find my hair tie!"  
  
"Alright, where did you have it last?"  
  
"I put it back in my lavatory."  
  
"So why would it be in *my* lavatory?" Remus questioned.  
  
"Maybe it likes your lavatory better then mine. How the bloody hell should I know?"  
  
Remus walked out of his bathroom and across the hall to Sirius's room, "Now if I know Sirius..."  
  
Two black suitcases on the bed caught his eye and he went over and opened the first one, "It should be in this one..."  
  
Remus rummaged through the bag and, sure enough, on the very bottom, Sirius's hair tie was sitting innocently. The blonde took it out and zipped the case back up.  
  
Remus walked back into his bedroom, "Oh, Sirius..."  
  
Sirius came out of Remus's bathroom and watched as Remus held out his hair tie, "Where'd you find it?!"  
  
"You packed it you moron," Remus smirked.  
  
"I did?" Sirius scratched his head and took the tie pinning his hair back, "I don't remember doing that."  
  
"You don't remember what happened twenty minutes ago..."  
  
Sirius picked up a pillow and threw it at Remus's head.  
  
"Sometimes, Sirius, you act like such a child."  
  
Sirius got a gleam in his eyes, "A child huh? *This* is acting like a child..."  
  
In one swift motion Sirius crossed the room, scooped the other man up into his arms, and started spinning.  
  
"Sirius!" Remus yelped, "Sirius, put me down! You're gonna make me sick!"  
  
Sirius grinned and practically threw Remus onto his bed immediately lifting up his shirt and tickled his stomach.  
  
"Sirius!" Remus started to gasp for air, "Quit it! You know I hate that!"  
  
Sirius continued his assault on the smaller man below him. Remus wiggled under Sirius, but finally managed to squirm away. He took off running with Sirius in close pursuit.  
  
Remus got almost to the top of the stairs when Sirius caught up with him. The raven-haired man pinned him to the wall, but he wasn't going to give up that easily. Having some wolf strength did come in handy.  
  
"Ok," Remus growled, "You want to play rough do you?"  
  
Remus shoved Sirius, but the raven-haired man had too strong of a grip on him so they both tripped over one another. Sirius lost his footing and the two tumbled backwards... down the stairs.  
  
They fell downward, banging into the wall and the railing as they went. They hit the bottom with a huge 'thump', tangling themselves together.  
  
"Ow..." Remus groaned.  
  
"My head..."  
  
"Won't be any less damaged," Remus smirked 'finishing' his sentence.  
  
"Hey!" Sirius yelled.  
  
The two finally realized what kind of a mess they were in. Remus had landed squarely on his back with his right leg bent underneath him and his right arm tucked under his neck. Sirius had landed on his stomach, his upper body completely pinning Remus to the floor. His right arm was completely trapped beneath the blonde's back and his left leg was caught in the railing at the end of the step.  
  
"Sirius?" Remus's voice was slightly ragged.  
  
Sirius looked down into Remus's golden eyes. Their noses were almost touching, "What?"  
  
"You're crushing me."  
  
"Oh! Sorry!" Sirius struggled to get up, but his arm wasn't cooperating, "Moony, could you lift your back up so I can get my arm out?"  
  
"I can't. You're body is squashing mine."  
  
"Well, wait. What if I do this?" Sirius wiggled around pulling his arm, but the more he moved, the more of his weight was shifted on top of Remus.  
  
"Sirius, wait!" Remus choked.  
  
Sirius quit squirming, "Sorry, Remmy, but I can't move. My foot is stuck between the railings in an uncomfortable position."  
  
"I know, but I think I can raise my hips enough now for you to get your arm back."  
  
"Ok, try."  
  
Remus struggled against Sirius's complete body weight resting on him as he slowly raised his hips off the floor with one leg. Sirius felt the friction of their bodies sliding against one another and would have blushed if he hadn't been so concentrated on pulling his arm out.  
  
As soon as his arm was free, he rolled off of Remus and pulled his foot from the railings. Luckily, he didn't break it.  
  
Remus finally got up on his feet and leaned against the wall, resting his head back, "Ow."  
  
"That was your fault."  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow, "My fault?!"  
  
"See, you agree with me," Sirius smirked.  
  
"It was your fault."  
  
"You're the one that pushed us down the stairs!"  
  
"You're the one that started the whole thing!"  
  
"Blame me for everything!"  
  
"That's because everything is usually your fault!" Remus snickered, "Go get your suitcases, the taxi will be here soon."  
  
"Taxi?" Sirius quirked his head.  
  
"We are going to a muggle airport, so I figured muggle transportation would be best. Besides, airports usually don't have fireplaces, and I really don't think apparating in front of a large crowd of muggles would be a good idea.  
  
"Right," Sirius headed up the stairs backwards blowing some hair out of his face that had come loose from his tie during the scuffle.  
  
"And retie your bloody hair out of your face before I fucking cut it off while you're asleep!"  
  
Sirius could be heard laughing all the way to his bedroom.  
  
|~*~|  
  
Before either of them knew it, they were standing outside the airport with their luggage in their hands.  
  
"I don't know about you Remus, but I've never been to one of these muggle airports. Where the hell do we go?" Sirius shifted a bag in his right hand.  
  
Remus began studying the building, "I don't have a clue. I've never been on an airplane before either." He watched as a few muggles brushed past him and made their way inside, "I guess we follow them."  
  
Sirius grumbled, "Follow muggles."  
  
Remus shook his head ignoring the man to his left and proceeded up the few steps and into the large off-white building. Inside was packed with muggles, some casually walking, most running, and more then a few were cursing. Sirius gazed around, looking as people pushed passed one another trying to get to their own flight. Remus just had that lost look in his eyes.  
  
"I think we go there," Remus pointed to a large counter with a few box looking things on top with wires running out of them. A few people in uniforms were talking to others with suitcases.  
  
Remus pulled Sirius by the sleeve over to a free employee. The brunette, who looked as though he was in his early twenties, looked up from the screen of the box on the counter and stopped pressing buttons. Remus dropped a bag from his shoulder and smiled. The man smiled back, but his eyes weren't exactly focusing on Remus's face. They traveled down his chest very slowly then back up finally meeting Remus's gaze. The blonde blushed a little now focusing on the nametag which read 'Steven'. Sirius, who had been watching them both, stood next to Remus and glared at the man.  
  
Steven's eyes went a little large in some sort of realization. He watched Sirius for a moment, took a glance back at Remus, then looked back upon the raven-haired man. Immediately he stopped smiling, but he looked content, "May I help you?"  
  
"Uh... yes," Remus finally managed to say, "We need to pick up two tickets."  
  
Steven immediately began to press buttons on the flat piece of plastic in front of him, "Name?"  
  
"They're under Jason Randall for Remus Lupin and Sirius Black."  
  
The employee continued to type, "And may I see some identification?"  
  
Remus took a card from his pocket that resembled a driver's license and handed it to him. Steven glanced at it and set it on the counter. He stopped typing and Remus found two blue papers thrust into his hand.  
  
Steven looked up, "May I take your bags?"  
  
Remus thought about this for a moment, "Uh... yeah. Thanks."  
  
Hauling his bags from the floor, Remus gave them to Steven, and after much fussing with Sirius, finally got him to hand over his as well.  
  
"Ok, your flight is number six so head straight on down to your left."  
  
Remus looked toward his left, "Thank you."  
  
Sirius ushered Remus away from the counter and toward gate six. Remus gave a nervous chuckle, "That was... um... strange."  
  
"I'd rather knock his teeth out," Sirius grumbled.  
  
Remus laughed, "Honestly, Sirius, you may be my best mate, but sometimes I think you're a little protective."  
  
Sirius gazed into Remus's eyes'; a hint of playfulness was gleaming brightly, "Oh! So you'd have rather I let the man continue to stare and visually assault your upper body! Now I get it! I didn't know your door swung that way, Rems."  
  
Remus shook his head and continued to smile, "Nah, not my type."  
  
"Type huh? Like not a woman?" Sirius poked Remus in the ribs with his elbow.  
  
"No, type as in too feminine."  
  
That made Sirius stop dead in his tracks. Wait... Remus is... "You're... you're gay?"  
  
Remus gave him an odd stare that clearly said 'where have you been?'. In fact, he voiced the question, "Where have you been?"  
  
"What do you mean 'where have I been'? I've been... I've been... when did you turn gay?" Sirius had that bemused sort of shocked expression on his face.  
  
Remus started laughing, "Sirius, you're my best mate and you didn't know? Everyone knows! Why do you think I hung out with more guys then girls in my last two years of school?"  
  
"You've been a pouf since sixth year? How come you never told me?"  
  
"We thought you knew! Everyone else did! Sirius, were you blind? We thought you were just too freaked out to mention it!" Suddenly Remus got a little quiet, "Are you freaked out?"  
  
Sirius shook his head, "Nah, you're my best mate; nothing that you've done could freak me out. If you're a pouf then that's just who you are."  
  
Remus let out a silent breath, "Ok, enough with my personal life. And don't call me a pouf!"  
  
Sirius chuckled, "Alright, alright."  
  
"Now, where is gate six," Remus mumbled to himself getting back on track, "Six, six, ah there it is!"  
  
Sirius continued to follow Remus up to a bunch of machines, 'Remus is gay? No wonder I never saw him around any girls. Guess it never really occurred to me. Who would have known? Well, I guess I would have if I hadn't been so busy with those girls in our year.' Sirius smiled at a particular memory.  
  
Remus raised his eyebrow, "What are you smiling at?"  
  
Oh, heh, nothing."  
  
"Now I don't even want to know."  
  
Remus walked up to a large metal box. A guy with an officer's uniform was standing nearby, "Please step through."  
  
Remus and Sirius both began to go through.  
  
"One at a time," the officer growled.  
  
Sirius back up and Remus went through. The officer nodded at Sirius and he proceeded to go through as well.  
  
'What the hell is this?' A series of loud beeping noises penetrated his ears and he jumped.  
  
Remus giggled at the expression Sirius had on his face.  
  
"What the bloody hell was that?" Sirius barked.  
  
The officer looked annoyed. He held out a silver container, "Please place all metal objects and coins into here and step back."  
  
Sirius looked a little puzzled, but didn't argue. He reached into his pants pocket and brought out a set of keys and placed them in the tray. He took a step back and proceeded to go through once more only to have it beep again. Remus snickered.  
  
The officer looked a little red. Obviously, he wasn't having a good day, "Please place all metal objects and coins into here and step back."  
  
Sirius looked like he was just as angry as the officer. He reached into his back pocket and took out a few coins then stepped back. The officer nodded and Sirius, once again, went back through. Nothing happened and Sirius let out a frustrated breath. He grabbed his things and shoved them back into his pocket.  
  
"Third times the charm," Remus smiled.  
  
Sirius grumbled, "What was the point of that?"  
  
Remus sighed. He knew that the best way to answer any of Sirius's questions was just to not answer, "It's just a muggle thing."  
  
"Stupid muggles."  
  
Remus shook his head, "Have a seat, Sirius. We're a little early."  
  
Sirius took a seat to the right of Remus. He looked around at the two dozen people sitting in rows of seats. Remus poked him and Sirius looked over to his left. Coming right up to them was the guy who gave them their tickets, Steven.  
  
Remus began to look a little uncomfortable, "Uh... hello again."  
  
Sirius glared.  
  
"Hey," Steven seemed a little out of breath, "Remus, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
The brunette smiled, "Nice name."  
  
Remus blushed; Sirius growled.  
  
Sirius's growl seemed to bring the man back into reality, "Oh... you left your card back on the counter." He handed Remus the square piece of plastic.  
  
"Thanks," Remus put up a fake smile.  
  
"Yeah," he grinned, "To bad you're taken. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind inviting you to dinner when you got back."  
  
Remus's face went completely red and Sirius started to stand up. People were watching for a fight to break out.  
  
"Leaving!" Steven practically ran out of the waiting area far away from Sirius.  
  
Remus put his very reddened face in his hands and mumbled something incoherent. Sirius sat back down, "What's the matter, Moony?"  
  
"Hephsallffsedsmmpfple."  
  
"What?"  
  
Remus raised his head from his hands. His face was still tinted pink, "I said 'He called us a couple'."  
  
Sirius had a blank look on his face, "He did?"  
  
"He said 'to bad you're taken', Sirius. He was referring to us, as in me and you."  
  
To Remus's surprise, the dark man chuckled, "Muggles."  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow, "You don't mind?"  
  
Sirius quirked his head, "Well... if it was anybody else I would, but it probably got you out of being sexually assaulted by a hormonal idiot."  
  
The blonde smiled, "Thanks, Padfoot."  
  
"Anytime, Moony." 


	3. Flying High Ain’t so Fine

~Flying High Ain't so Fine~  
  
"What do you think, Padfoot? Jason bought us first-class tickets," Remus stared out the window of the airplane. There wasn't much to see since they hadn't taken off yet.  
  
Sirius looked around at the nicely upholstered navy blue seats and squishy mahogany carpet beneath his feet, "Even I have to admit, it's not bad considering it was made by muggles."  
  
Remus shook his head as the 'please buckle your seatbelts' sign lit up. Remus and Sirius strapped on their buckles and sat back. The plane started down the runway, turned around, and started to gain speed as the wheels slowly began to lift off the asphalt.  
  
As the plane slowly ascended into the air, Remus took one look out the window and tightened his grip on the armrests. Suddenly, his face looked very pale and he was breathing a little faster.  
  
Sirius looked over at him and noticed his condition. His eyes wavered in worry, "What's wrong, Remmy?"  
  
"N-Nothing," Remus squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the headrest.  
  
"Don't give me that shit, Rem, you're as white as Nearly-Headless-Nick. What's bothering..." Sirius took one look out the window and his eyes widened a little, "Fuck, I forgot about your fear of heights! Why didn't you say something?!"  
  
"I d-didn't think it would b-be this bad anymore," Remus continued to squeeze his eyes shut, "I-I was just a k-kid the last time I flew on a b- broom."  
  
"Come on, Rem, relax. Nothing bad is going to happen," Sirius soothed. He reached for his friend's hand and pried it off of the armrest. Remus locked his death grip on Sirius's left hand instead.  
  
"Ow!" Sirius hissed quietly. Remus's grip was tight to say the least! He tried shaking off his friend's hand, but to no avail, so Sirius bared the pain and gave a reassuring squeeze.  
  
The seatbelt sign flickered off as the plane leveled in the air. Sirius unbuckled the latch with one hand and, since Remus was too frightened to move at the time, did his, too.  
  
"That's it," Sirius said shaking Remus's shoulder, "We're trading spots."  
  
"W-Wha?" Remus kind of stuttered out, only half listening.  
  
Sirius stood up from his seat and pulled Remus into his chair. He sat abruptly down now next to the window. Remus had finally let go of Sirius's hand and tried to take deep breaths; he calmed down slightly.  
  
"Better?" Sirius asked.  
  
Remus nodded faintly, the movement bringing him back to reality somewhat.  
  
"Rem," Sirius sighed taking a hold of Remus's hand again, "We're gonna be fine, relax."  
  
Remus began to loosen his grip at Sirius's words as a flight attendant came up to them holding a tray of glasses, "Would you like some champagne, or brandy?"  
  
"Brandy, please," Sirius took a look at Remus, "Better make it two."  
  
"Here..." she handed Sirius the drinks then looked over at Remus, "Is he going to be alright?"  
  
"Yeah, just has a fear of heights," Sirius worriedly glanced at the sandy- blond man beside him.  
  
"Ouu, fear of heights?" she half squealed, "I use to have that. Don't worry, sir, it is very rare that our planes crash."  
  
Remus gulped.  
  
"Well," Sirius looked back up at the flight attendant, "How did you get rid of your fear? I mean, you must have if you fly for a living."  
  
"Oh me?" It kind of disappeared after the plane I was traveling on for vacation crashed right after taking off. Thirty people were hurt and seven were killed, but I though it was rather pointless to survive through that and still be afraid so I..."  
  
Remus turned even paler and Sirius growled, "Thank you."  
  
"Oh, sure," she smiled not even realizing that she had made the situation worse, "My name is Amy if you need anything."  
  
After the girl had disappeared, Sirius turned his attention back to Remus, "Come on, Rem, everything will be fine." He threw a glass in Remus's hand, "Here, have a drink to calm your nerves."  
  
Remus didn't move.  
  
Sirius growled at the woman although she was nowhere in sight. "Take the glass or I'll have to drown you in it," Sirius tried to sound playful.  
  
That sort of seemed to bring the sandy-blonde back to reality as he grabbed the drink and swallowed the contents in one go. It seemed to have a chilly effect on him.  
  
"Well here," Sirius slightly chuckled, "take mine."  
  
Sirius handed over his drink to Remus who downed it in one gulp.  
  
Sirius looked around for the flight attendant, "Amy?"  
  
Amy came over and took the empty glasses, "Yes?"  
  
"Could we get two more?"  
  
|~*~|  
  
After quite a few hours and brandy later, Remus had finally seemed to relax. Color had at last returned to his face and his death grip had been reduced to a mere feathery hold on a glass of liquor.  
  
Sirius chuckled, "Now this isn't so bad is it?"  
  
"After almost half a dozen glasses of brandy, jumping off this plane doesn't seem so bad," Remus took anther sip of his drink.  
  
"Maybe next time I should get you pissed out of your skull and take you up on a broom."  
  
"Don't you dare!" Remus tried to sound stern, but it came out in little fits of giggles.  
  
Sirius went to stretch his legs out in front of him, "I have been on this damn plane for too long."  
  
"Quite whining, Siri, we've got barely a half-hour to go."  
  
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Since when do you call me Siri?"  
  
Remus took another sip of his drink, "Since I'm thousands of miles up in the air, a little more than intoxicated, and for some reason just don't give a damn. So from now on you're Siri... or Sirius Ian Black when you're in trouble."  
  
"So I'll be Sirius Ian Black for the rest of my life?"  
  
Remus chuckled, "More than likely."  
  
Sirius continued to stretch his legs, "My legs are stiff."  
  
"So go walk around in the isle."  
  
"I don't want to get up," Sirius whined.  
  
"Lazy," Remus smiled,  
  
Sirius puffed out his chest, "It is better to be lazy and live life then to be a work-aholic and live no life."  
  
Remus shot an eyebrow up, "What? Since when did you start trying to be philosophical, and may I mention that 'trying' is the key word?"  
  
"Oh, I'm deeply hurt!" Sirius continued to complain, "What are you going to do?"  
  
"We're almost there. I am going to lay my head back and close my eyes. Why don't you do the same?"  
  
"I have too much energy to sleep!"  
  
"So stare out the window," Remus proceeded to rest his head back and shut his eyes.  
  
Sirius huffed and focused his attention out the window, "Cloud... cloud... cloud... cloud... cloud... hey, Remus!"  
  
Remus peeked one eye open, "What?"  
  
Sirius grinned, "I see a cloud!"  
  
Remus rolled his open eye and closed it again.  
  
Sirius sighed, "Cloud... cloud... cloud... cloud... cloud... hey, Remus!"  
  
Now Remus jerked both eyes open, "What?!"  
  
"That cloud looks like a glass of brandy!"  
  
Remus smacked the raven-haired man on the back of his head.  
  
"Hey!" Sirius shouted, "What did you do that for?"  
  
Remus gave him a funny look, "How can you distinguish a glass of brandy in a cloud from any other drink?"  
  
"I don't know. It just looks like brandy. Look!"  
  
Remus rolled his eyes. Sirius had way too much energy. He was just like a little kid at times.  
  
"Fine, I'll look," Remus grunted, "But just to show you that there is no way to tell the difference between drin... hey that does look like a glass of brandy!"  
  
|~*~|  
  
As the plane finally stopped on the runway, Sirius and Remus got up and headed out of the exit. While waiting to go through security checks once inside the building, Remus started looking around.  
  
"I don't see Jason."  
  
"Maybe he's just late," Sirius inquired.  
  
The two followed a few muggles over to baggage claim. After finding their bags, Remus set his on the ground to take a look around for his friend when two arms snaked their way around his waist.  
  
Remus jumped and turned around to come face to face with another man, another *handsome* man. He was a bit taller then the sandy-blonde, muscularly built, dark brown hair to an almost black that hung loosely around his ears, and had the chocolatiest eyes he had ever seen. Remus blushed, but couldn't move from the stranger's grip.  
  
"Remus, nice to see you!" the man said.  
  
Remus startled, "How do you know my name?"  
  
Sirius came up growling, "Who are you?"  
  
"Haven't changed a bit have you, Sirius?"  
  
Now Sirius looked startled, "How do you know *my* name?"  
  
The man gave the two a puzzled look and realization hit him, "Oh! I forgot! I don't look at all like I use too! Forgot about my childhood physics. It's me, Remus, Jason Randall!" 


	4. Honeycolored Eyes

~Honey-colored Eyes~  
  
Remus studied the man's face carefully, "J-Jason? Merlin, what in the bloody hell did you do to yourself?!"  
  
Jason laughed, "I finally grew out of being a squirt right before I hit my twenties, and being successful helped a lot with my looks, too."  
  
"Bloody hell!" Remus half gasped.  
  
Sirius glared, almost looking as if he was sulking.  
  
"What? Don't like the new me?" Jason smirked.  
  
Remus shook his head, "No, you've just changed so much!"  
  
Jason finally let Remus go and bent down to grab his bags, "Is this all you have?"  
  
"Yes, but I can get them, Jason," Remus made a move for his luggage.  
  
Jason pulled them back, out of the werewolf's way, "No, no, no, I got it. You're my guest! Now follow me to the car, we have a little ways to travel before we get back to my house."  
  
Jason went ahead of the two and Remus and Sirius followed him.  
  
"Merlin," Remus whispered to Sirius so Jason couldn't hear, "How he's changed!"  
  
"It's nothing special," Sirius growled.  
  
"Nothing special? Sirius, he's changed completely inside and out! He's so outgoing now and really confident! And his looks..." Remus's eyes started to shine, "He's gorgeous!"  
  
A sort of nauseating feeling hit the bottom of Sirius's stomach and he had the sudden urge to regurgitate, "Come on, Moony, you're drooling."  
  
"I am not drooling!" Remus defended.  
  
"You could trip over your own tongue. *I* could trip over your tongue!"  
  
Remus blushed slightly, "Well... maybe a little..."  
  
Remus and Sirius followed Jason out to his car; a metallic silver Lexus SC 430. Sirius didn't think Muggle Studies was a *complete* waste of time.  
  
"I figured you two would like to see a bit of the scenery so I brought my car instead of just apparating here," Jason smiled.  
  
Remus looked thrilled while Sirius held back the urge to roll his eyes.  
  
They got in the back with their luggage and Jason went to the driver's seat.  
  
When they pulled out of the airport and onto the road, Jason kept eyeing the two in his rearview mirror, "So, I heard that you two make quite the cute couple."  
  
"What?!" Remus gaped in surprise. Sirius just stared at him confusedly.  
  
"Yeah, I overheard a few muggles who got off before you talking about a cute pair of males. Something about a blonde having a fear of heights and a raven-haired comforting him. They couldn't stop talking about them so I figured it was you two."  
  
"Yeah, that was us," Sirius silently chuckled.  
  
"So when did you two get together?" Jason flicked on his blinker and turned off onto another road.  
  
Remus's face flushed, "We're not together, Jason. Those muggles were mistaken."  
  
An unnoticeable gleam seemed to take over the brunette's eyes, "Call me Jay, everyone else does."  
  
"Alright... Jay."  
  
The car was silent for the rest of the trip. Sirius just stared blankly out the window watching as green scenery, herds of cattle, and a few horses passed by. That same unsettling feeling was rumbling in his stomach. What frustrated him was he didn't know what was causing it. Finally, he settled on himself just being hungry.  
  
Jay pulled into a driveway and parked the car. Sirius stepped out with his bags and finally took to noticing his surroundings. The two-story house was a hazy blue, with large white windows, a patio in the back, and had a nice balcony that wrapped itself completely around the second story. It overlooked the lake, and on the water rested what looked like some sort of dock. There were neighbors, but they were far enough away for privacy, and the trees on either side helped hide things on the ground.  
  
"It's lovely, Jay," Sirius heard Remus say.  
  
"Come on," Jason ushered the two near the door, "It's almost dinnertime here. I'll have one of the house elves prepare something and you two can get unpacked."  
  
Sirius followed the other two inside, listening as Remus gasped. He looked around and was a little bit impressed by what he saw; a little bit. They had walked straight into a hallway leading off to different parts of the house. Paintings filled the walls and a small chandelier hung from the ceiling above the door.  
  
"This way," Jason smiled, "Your rooms are upstairs."  
  
Sirius and Remus followed him up the stairs that were on the right. They spiraled upward to the second floor.  
  
Jason opened the first door to the left they came upon, "This is your room, Remus."  
  
Remus sidestepped from Sirius's side and entered. Jason shut the door after him and led Sirius two more doors down to the left. "And this is yours, Sirius. I'll leave you two to unpack and come back up to tell you when dinner is ready."  
  
Jason turned around and left back down the stairs. Sirius turned the handle and went inside his room, automatically locking the door with his wand behind him. It was nice. The walls were speckled light blue with dark blue carpet. There were three large windows overlooking a small garden in the back and a white glass door leading out to the balcony. The four-poster king-sized bed was white with carvings of hippogriffs in the wood. The dresser mimicked the bed along with the nightstands and the closet door. A small fireplace stood off to the side, as well as a bathroom. But that wasn't the first thing he noticed. Everything was plain to insinuate toward the ceiling, which was by far the most eye- catching thing in the room.  
  
It was charmed to show a whole herd of wild winged horses galloping across open meadows. And if he knew his breeds, they were Abraxans. Not only that, but a phoenix was circling in the skies above the herd and a mating pair of Antipodean Opaleye dragons were walking around in the background.  
  
One horse in particular caught his eye, and for a good reason. The other horses were palominos as expected with the breed, but the leading stallion was different. Instead of being blotched with patches of paint, it was a pure golden color, right down to its eyes. And strange as that was, although it might have just been a mutation from birth, the gold color was *really* familiar. It wasn't like the gold from Gryffindor, but rather a soft honey color.  
  
Sirius gazed at the ceiling while he set his bags on the bed. He unpacked his clothes and threw the suitcases on the shelf in the closet. He opted to relax on his bed, tired from the plane ride. He closed his eyes and tried to think of just where he'd seen that color gold.  
  
He had only been resting for three minutes when two hands grasped his shoulder and someone yelled, "Padfoot!"  
  
Sirius jumped from the bed, startled out of his wits, and landed square on his butt on the other side. He scrambled up to his feet and locked eyes with a roaring Remus.  
  
"How in the hell did you get in here?!" Sirius squeaked, his heart was still pounding, "I could have sworn I locked the door behind me!"  
  
"You forgot about the balcony. It links our rooms," Remus giggled.  
  
"That was completely unfair!" Sirius sulked.  
  
"Awe," Remus cooed, "Everyone feel bad for Siri."  
  
Sirius grabbed one of the pillows from the bed and chucked it right at Remus. Remus, who had been waiting for something similar, ducked and grabbed his own, knocking Sirius upside the head.  
  
Sirius grinned, "I have too much influence on you."  
  
Remus just smacked him with the pillow again. Sirius sideswiped the blonde and tackled him to the bed immediately going for his stomach.  
  
"S-Sirius!" Remus giggled and squirmed underneath his fingers, "St-top!"  
  
"Hit me on the head will ya?" Sirius grinned, "You aren't going anywhere werewolf." To emphasize his meaning, Sirius pinned Remus to the bed with his bodyweight and continued his assault.  
  
"S-STOP!" Remus yelled, all in vein, "T-This is ho-ow we go-t in-to t-the m- ess the l-ast t-time!"  
  
"Hey, that was your fault," Sirius grinned, "You're the one that knocked us down the stairs."  
  
"Y-You star-ted th-the who-, q-quit it Si-rius!"  
  
Sirius stopped his attack to let Remus breathe for a moment, "What?"  
  
Remus gasped for air, "As I was saying, you started the whole thing by swinging me around!"  
  
"You started it by finding my hair tie like the know-it-all that you are!"  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow and smirked, "You started it by loosing it."  
  
"You started it by not telling me to pack earlier."  
  
Remus looked at him with wide eyes, "I told you to pack a *week* ago!"  
  
"Yeah, but you didn't remind me," Sirius was grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"I shouldn't have to!" Remus exclaimed.  
  
"You said it yourself that I can't remember what happened twenty minutes ago! So you should have reminded me!"  
  
Remus smirked, "You can remember me telling you *that*, but you can't remember me telling you to pack?"  
  
Sirius nodded, "I have a selective memory."  
  
"More like a selective brain," Remus mumbled.  
  
"I heard that!" Sirius shouted.  
  
"So?" Remus raised an eyebrow, "What'ch ya gonna do about it?"  
  
Sirius raised his fingers and went back to his assault on Remus.  
  
Remus got a gleam in his eyes, and in one fluid motion, managed to flip them so that he was on top, bending over the raven-haired on all fours, "You are such a prat, Padfoot!"  
  
"Hey!" Sirius looked up and was about to ask how in the hell Remus had managed to flip them when he gazed into his eyes. They were gold, honey gold.  
  
"Uh... Padfoot? Are you alright?" Remus was kind of puzzled at Sirius's sudden silence and intense focus.  
  
"Huh?" Sirius shook his head, "Oh, sorry, but your eyes are the same color as the Abraxan on the ceiling."  
  
Remus tilted his head upward, "Yeah, I noticed the ceiling. I thought they were Abraxans, but the golden one confused me. So, you're saying it's the same color as my eyes? I didn't notice that."  
  
"Well, its not as if you look into your own eyes all..." before Sirius could finish that sentence, or know what he was saying, he was cut short.  
  
"Whoa, sorry."  
  
The two men craned their heads and turned to the direction of the voice, the balcony door. There stood Jason looking a little embarrassed and a bit miffed.  
  
"Didn't mean to interrupt," the tip of his ears went a bit red.  
  
"Wha...?" was all Remus could say before he actually noticed what Jason meant.  
  
Remus quickly got up off of Sirius, his cheeks stained red, "W-We were j- just playing around!"  
  
Jason raised an eyebrow and gave a half chuckle, "I can see that."  
  
Remus went even redder, "That's not what I meant!"  
  
Sirius was just staying quiet, still laying on the bed.  
  
Jason finally let out a laugh, "I know. Sorry, Remus, but I saw the pillow fight. I know you guys were only joking around. Jeez, the only thing stopping you from being brothers is the blood."  
  
Remus went halfway back to normal color, but Sirius went from normal to a bit pale. Exactly why was a mystery, but the way Jason had told them that he and Remus were practically brothers kind of bothered him. It shouldn't, they *were* practically brothers. That thought just made him go even paler.  
  
"You alright there, Sirius?" Jay asked, looking down on him.  
  
"Yeah," Sirius's voice sounded an octave higher than normal, though he didn't know entirely why.  
  
Remus looked back down on him strangely. Sirius could still see a tinge of pink on the blonde's cheeks.  
  
Jay looked as though he was trying to be passive of the whole ordeal, which, for some reason, bothered the hell out of Sirius, "Dinner is ready. You two hungry?"  
  
"Starved," Remus replied.  
  
Sirius didn't say a word.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Author's Note: In case you are wondering, here is a website to a picture of a Lexus SC 430 (just take out the spaces). Click on the color 'metallic silver' to get an exact picture.  
  
H t t p : / / w w w . l e x u s . c o m / m o d e l s / s c / g a l l e r y _ e x t e r i o r _ c o l o r s . h t m l # 


	5. I Told You So

~I Told You So~  
  
Finally seated at the dinner table in the dining room, the three piled their plates and began to eat. Mixed chatter filled the silence between bites.  
  
"Things look like they have been going alright for you, Jason. What exactly do you do?"  
  
"I told you, Remus," Jason smiled, "call me Jay. As for what I do, I'm a Healer at the local wizarding hospital."  
  
Sirius looked up from his plate, "There are other wizards here?"  
  
"Of course," Jay chuckled, "The Lake of the Ozarks is on the top twenty list of where wizards live in the U.S. Something about the magic aurora the lake gives out."  
  
Remus had a puzzled expression on his face, "I didn't feel any magic around here."  
  
Sirius swallowed a forkful of food, "Neither did I."  
  
"That's the strange thing about it, though," Jay smiled, "No amount of magic had ever been traced here."  
  
"Wait," Sirius eyed the brunette, "So you're saying that there is magic here, but there isn't?"  
  
"Well, it all depends on beliefs," Jay continued, "Any witch or wizard who has come to visit or live here say that their lives have changed in someway. It is difficult to explain, but most pin it on the undetectable magical aurora."  
  
"So it's more of a superstition," Remus enquired.  
  
"In a way, yes, but I don't believe in superstitions. However, I do believe in the magic of this lake."  
  
"Why," Remus asked, "What has the lake changed for you?"  
  
"Ever since I came here, which was when I turned eighteen; I have had a boost of confidence. My whole life seemed to have flipped. I got accepted into the Ozarks Healer College, interviewed for a really great job even before I graduated, and bought this house after working six months. So I believe in the magic of the Ozarks."  
  
Remus looked on in approval while Sirius concentrated even harder on his food. The remainder of dinner was left in thoughtful silence.  
  
As soon as the last bite had been taken, Jay leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head with a giant yawn, "I don't know about you two, but I'm gonna head off to bed. It's been a long day for me. Thank Merlin I have the entire week off."  
  
"That sounds like the right idea," Remus added, "That plane ride took a lot out of me."  
  
Jay and Remus got up from out of their chairs and started heading up the stairs. Sirius soon followed suit quietly growling under his breath about people who go to sleep too early. Remus was already halfway in his room by the time he got upstairs.  
  
"Goodnight, Sirius, Jay," Remus called.  
  
"Night, Remmy," Sirius replied.  
  
"Sweet dreams," Jay answered.  
  
Sirius looked over at Jason and suppressed the urge to knock his head off. Sweet dreams? He had not heard that since James' mother had said that to him when he spent the night the summer of his fifth year.  
  
Remus smiled and quietly shut the door from behind him.  
  
Jay glanced at the raven-haired man next to him, "Goodnight, Sirius."  
  
Sirius started heading towards his room as he threw a, "Night," over his shoulder. When he took that glance he saw Jason turn into the room right across from Remus's. Sirius growled and muttered, "Arrogant prick," under his breath as he walked into his room.  
  
Sirius stomped into the bathroom, threw off his shirt and pants, and shot them into a hamper in the corner. He trudged back into his bedroom, placed his wand under his pillow, and pulled back the covers of his bed. The silk sheets felt nice as he slid between them. Feeling just a little tired, the animagus placed his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. The sky had faded to a night black with thousands of sparkling white dots. The phoenix was gone and the Antipodean Opaleye dragons were nowhere to be seen, but the herd of Abraxan horses were huddled in a circle, eyes closed, sleeping peacefully.  
  
The raven-haired looked harder at the painting. Something was missing. He looked around and soon spotted what he was looking for on the other side of the room. The golden stallion was standing at alert, watching over his herd; protecting them from any unknown danger that may happen to approach.  
  
Sirius couldn't help but smile as he slid his lids shut and fell into a deep sleep dreaming about an entirely faceless person except for two perfect, honey-colored eyes.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Sirius popped his eyes open to be greeted by pitch-blackness. A trickle of sweat dripped down from his forehead as he pushed the covers down a bit off his chest. Something had woke him up, but what?  
  
Something in his mind kicked in and he felt a presence on the other side of the room. A shadow moved from near the balcony door towards his bed. Sirius grabbed his wand and shot out of bed. The figure froze.  
  
"Sirius?" a familiar voice called.  
  
Sirius slowly lowered his wand, "Remus?"  
  
The shadow went over toward the wall and flicked on the light switch.  
  
Sirius squinted his eyes as the bright lights burned through his lids, "Ow!"  
  
"Quit being a baby, Padfoot."  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius placed a hand over his fast beating heart, "You nearly scared me to death!"  
  
"Sorry..." Remus whispered.  
  
Sirius studied Remus's face. He hadn't been the werewolf's friend for over twenty-five years to not know when something was upsetting the blonde, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing really," he avoided Sirius's eyes.  
  
"It has to be something to get you to come to my room in the middle of the night," Sirius coaxed. He noticed his friend's face was a little paler than normal and his eyelids were hardly staying open.  
  
"No... really, Sirius. It was nothing. I'm just gonna go back to bed," Remus turned around to head out the balcony door.  
  
"Remus?" Sirius watched as golden eyes turned back to him, "Just tell me that you're alright."  
  
The werewolf smiled, "I'm alright, Padfoot. Sorry for waking you up. Goodnight."  
  
Sirius saw Remus smile, knew it was a perfectly normal smile and there was no trace of any emotion in the blonde's eyes, but he knew Remus better then that. For as long as Sirius had known him, Remus could always hide his emotions from everyone. For the longest time even Sirius could not figure out how to tell the difference between a genuine smile and a mask, but after spending so many years with him, he found the only way to tell.  
  
If you looked close enough at Remus when he truly did smile, you would see him completely relaxed, but when he was trying to hide what he was really feeling, his shoulders would become tense. It was barely noticeable, but the only way to tell, and Remus's shoulder's looked far from relaxed at the moment.  
  
However, Sirius reluctantly let it go, "Goodnight, Moony."  
  
If Remus wanted to tell what had him shaken up, then he would. Sirius was just going to pay a little more attention to him to make sure he was alright.  
  
Remus slowly closed the door on the way out practically gliding from the window's view. Sirius unwillingly watched him go, flicked the lights back off, placed his wand back underneath his pillow, and climbed back into bed. He drifted into a troubled sleep worrying the whole night about Remus.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Sirius felt the world falling back into place. His focus on reality slowly came back to him as he opened his eyes to the rays of sunlight falling on him from outside his window. Wait... this wasn't his room...  
  
Sirius, in a half induced sleep haze, grabbed his wand, jumped out of bed, and ran toward the balcony door. He threw it open and flung himself against the railing barely suppressing the urge to let out a surprised yelp as he looked down among foreign land.  
  
"Shit! Where the bloody hell am I?!" Sirius gasped.  
  
Then, it all seemed to hit him; Remus, letter, America, Jason. That last thought made a small growl escape past his lips which surprised him. Sirius shook his head allowing a scowl to fix over his features as he walked back inside and closed the door behind him.  
  
"I'm getting too old for this," Sirius groaned as he headed toward the dresser he had stored his clothes in.  
  
Sirius heard restrained giggles coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Remus, leaning up against the hall door frame, with his hand over his mouth trying to hold back his laughter, but tears were already starting to form at the base of his golden eyes.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" Sirius gaped.  
  
Remus just couldn't hold it back any longer. He burst out laughing so hard he buckled and landed on his knees on the floor with his arms around his stomach.  
  
Sirius growled, "It wasn't that funny."  
  
Remus wiped the tears away from his eyes as he slowly stood up again and regained his breath, "S-Sorry, Padfoot, but it was just so hilarious. You should have seen your face!  
  
He broke down in another fit of giggles.  
  
"Har, har, har," Sirius snarled, "Did you want something?"  
  
The blonde wiped another set of tears away from his eyes, "I was just coming to wake you up for breakfast."  
  
Sirius turned back around to rummage through his draw, "I could have *sworn* I locked that door last night!"  
  
"Well, you didn't, Siri. Getting senile?" Remus smirked  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"You said it yourself that you're getting too old," a teasing gleam just itched at the edge of the werewolf's eyes.  
  
"You're asking for it," Sirius warned starting to catch on to the playfulness.  
  
"Oh really?" Remus edged, "What are you going to do about it?"  
  
Sirius's eyes took on a dark gleam that Remus saw when he turned around. The blonde did not like the look on Sirius's face at all.  
  
Sirius strode across the room towards Remus making the blonde step back in a hurry. Sirius stopped just before he reached the door with Remus standing back in the hallway. The dark gleam still made Remus a little nervous.  
  
Sirius smirked just as he slammed the door shut in Remus's face and locked it with his wand.  
  
Remus banged on the door, "Sirius, that was so not fair!"  
  
Sirius laughed at the blonde, but otherwise ignored him as he went back to his dresser. He rummaged through his clothes grabbing a pair of black jeans and a red shirt.  
  
It was then he noticed something, "Mooooony!"  
  
Sirius unlocked the door and threw it open. Remus had just come back up the steps looking at Sirius as if he had lost his mind.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I forgot something," Remus started to open his mouth but Sirius cut him off, "And if you say I told you so, I'm going to hex your lips together for a week!"  
  
Remus couldn't help it. The way Sirius's face was twisted up in seriousness trying to make sure the blonde wouldn't make fun of him was just too funny. Remus burst out laughing again.  
  
Sirius let out another low growl as he turned on his heels and went back into his room with Remus following behind him.  
  
"So what did you leave behind?"  
  
Sirius let a very small blush creep across his cheeks that was hardly noticeable, but of course Remus saw it.  
  
"I have to know now. What'd you forget?"  
  
Sirius mumbled something under his breath.  
  
"Speak up, Sirius. I can't understand you."  
  
"I said," Sirius snipped, "I forgot my boxers."  
  
Remus took a one second pause before he doubled over onto the floor roaring with laughter.  
  
"This is not my day," Sirius grumbled.  
  
As soon as Remus had control of himself, which took awhile, he stood back up and stared Sirius in the eyes, trying awfully hard not to break down again.  
  
"Guess you'll be going commando for the rest of the trip."  
  
"Moony!" Sirius whined all the while his face turning a brighter shade of red.  
  
Remus was really working on not laughing, "Alright, Sirius. We'll go shopping after breakfast, but what you're going to do until then I don't have a clue."  
  
Sirius smirked, "I'll do what you suggested."  
  
"And what is that?"  
  
"Go commando."  
  
Remus's eyebrows shot up, "I wasn't serious!"  
  
"Well, what else am I suppose to do?"  
  
Remus shrugged, "Guess your right. Just pray you don't get a skin burn with those jeans you wear."  
  
The tips of Sirius's ears turned pink.  
  
Remus gave him a funny look, "What's up with you, Sirius? You usually aren't embarrassed so easily."  
  
Sirius returned the weird look, but it was directed more at himself then at Remus. Even *he* didn't know why he was blushing so easily, so there was no way he could give the werewolf an answer, "Must just be the morning."  
  
Remus shook his head and smiled, "Not to worry, Sirius, the trip will get better."  
  
Sirius highly doubted it.  
  
"Now come on down to breakfast. I'm sure its cold by now."  
  
Sirius reluctantly agreed and followed the blonde out of his room and downstairs. 


	6. Blushes, Gushes, and Boxer Fun

Author's Note: I cannot remember the names of the stores at the Lake of the Ozarks. So anyone who has been there and does not recognize the name of one then it's more then likely the result of a memory that can't remember anything.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
~Blushes, Gushes, and Boxer Fun~  
  
After breakfast, Remus had explained to Jason that Sirius had forgotten some of his clothes at home and that they needed to go shopping. Jason, of course, agreed to help them in anyway Remus saw fit. Sirius thought it was rather nauseating.  
  
"These things happen," Jason chuckled slightly, "Need any money? I'll gladly lend you some."  
  
"No, no," Remus protested, "We have enough money, but thank you anyway, Jay."  
  
"Then I'll give you a ride into town. I need to do a few things, also, and I enjoy taking my car so I'll drop you off wherever you would like to go."  
  
"That's awfully nice of you," Remus smiled.  
  
"Think nothing of it!"  
  
This whole conversation made Sirius think about a pure sugar filled candy, covered in even more sugar. You know, the kind that gave you an instant cavity after eating just one.  
  
The three piled into Jason's car and took off towards the town. Jay drove, Remus sat in the passenger seat, and Sirius sat in back.  
  
The ride was mostly short and silent. Jason pulled up to a nice looking store called 'Top Ace'.  
  
"It's a muggle store, but you should like it. They have very nice clothes."  
  
"Thank you, Jay," Remus opened the door and started to get out, but Jason grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back into the car. He leaned over and whispered something quietly in Remus's ear. Remus smiled and nodded his head.  
  
Sirius watched the whole event occur with a sour look on his face. To his surprise, he looked down and saw his hands were clenched together so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.  
  
Sirius shook his head trying to clear his mind, 'What's gotten into me?'  
  
Sirius couldn't answer his own question, even after stepping out of the car, following Remus, and watching Jason pull away.  
  
"Come on, Sirius, we had better get started," Remus urged.  
  
"Hey," Sirius stopped Remus with a tug on his arm before he knew what he was doing, "what did Jason whisper to you in the car?"  
  
"Nothing really," Remus smiled, "He just told me to apparate back to his house by one o'clock because he has a surprise for us."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Now come on!" Remus pushed Sirius into the store.  
  
It was a moderate style clothing store that was neither too fancy, nor too plain. They easily found the section they were looking for and could have gotten out of there in under ten minutes, but Remus knew better. Shopping with Sirius was no easy task. He was really picky with what he wore on his body, which was why most of the time the man preferred to go around with nothing on at all.  
  
"What about that one?"  
  
"Too frilly."  
  
"This one?"  
  
"Too restrictive."  
  
"That one?"  
  
"Too pink."  
  
"That's red!"  
  
"Looks pink to me."  
  
Remus sighed in exasperation, "It isn't that difficult, Sirius!"  
  
"I don't like any of these!"  
  
Two hours had they been doing this. Two hours! Only Sirius could spend two hours on boxer shopping and still have his hands empty!  
  
"Excuse me gentlemen," a male employee interrupted Remus's rant, "there are more in the back of the store if you do not like any of these."  
  
Sirius vanished leaving Remus behind, "Thank you."  
  
Remus chased after Sirius towards the back. Indeed there were more, a lot more. This was the only store Remus had ever seen in his entire life that had so many selections of boxers!  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Another two hours later, the two walked out of the store, Sirius with a bag in his hands.  
  
"Thank Merlin that is over," Remus moaned.  
  
"It wasn't that bad, Remmy. Besides, I got what I wanted."  
  
"Of course you got what you wanted, Sirius," Remus rolled his eyes, "There were so many different types of boxers that if you didn't come out of that store after all this time without even one pair I was going to decapitate you and leave your body in a dumpster somewhere."  
  
"What were you going to do with my head?"  
  
Remus thought for a moment, "Probably take it with me to show everyone so they would actually believe me that I got rid of everyone's problem."  
  
"Hey!" Sirius shouted.  
  
Remus laughed.  
  
"I see how it is. You're just warming up to me and being my friend so you can kill me. I get it. The picture is clear to me now," Sirius put on a fake pouty look complete with puppy eyes.  
  
Remus rolled his eyes and smiled. He ruffled the raven's hair, "Come on, Paddy, you know I love ya."  
  
A fluttering feeling settled at the pit of Sirius's stomach. It sort of took him by surprise as he raised his hand to his abdomen.  
  
"Hungry?" Remus asked.  
  
"Must be," Sirius muttered, "What time is it?"  
  
Remus looked at his watch, "Shit! It's ten after one! We're late!"  
  
"Calm down, Rems. I don't think he'll care if were running a bit behind."  
  
Remus acted as if he didn't hear him. He grabbed Sirius, shoved him down an alley, and apparated back to Jason's house.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Jason was waiting patiently, leaning on the doorframe of the backdoor as the two men poofed out of nowhere.  
  
"Sorry we're late, Jay," Remus rushed out, "Sirius took forever."  
  
"There you go blaming everything on me again!" Sirius smirked.  
  
"And, yet again, because it was your fault," Remus shot back.  
  
"My fault? It was *your* fault!"  
  
"*My* fault?! You're the one who couldn't pick out anything until we went in the back!"  
  
"You should have made me take something then!"  
  
"You...! I...! We...! Urrggg!!! Sirius, you are driving me out of my mind!"  
  
"Yep," Sirius gave the blonde a wide smile, "that's my job."  
  
"And you are succeeding very well at it!"  
  
Jason coughed to get their attention, "So anyway, about that surprise I told you about, Remmy."  
  
Sirius's head shot up at Jason. He held back the urge to knock Jason's head off... once again.  
  
"Follow me," Jason waved for them to come with him around to the front of the house.  
  
Sirius made Remus hang back and he quietly whispered, "Since when does he call you Remmy?"  
  
Remus shrugged, "I don't know. That's the first time he's ever done it."  
  
"Well, he can't call you that. James never even called you that! I'm the one who invented the nickname so I have a patent on it! It's mine!"  
  
Remus looked at Sirius very strangely, "Are you alright, Sirius? You've been acting exceptionally weird, even for you."  
  
"Yeah... yeah," Sirius shook his head, "I don't know what came over me."  
  
"Ok...," Remus said, "as long as you're alright."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
Remus let it drop but kept staring at Sirius out of the corner of his eye.  
  
Jason led the two men down a long set of stairs towards the dock Sirius had seen when he first arrived here. He waited for them at the very beginning of the entrance.  
  
"Come on. I'm taking us on a boat ride."  
  
"A boat ride? I've never been on a boat before," Remus looked on curiously.  
  
"No need to worry. This is one of my favorite pastimes, to get away from everything."  
  
Sirius stayed a few paces behind the two as they talked a little more about the lake. He was trying to decipher what in the hell had been going on with him lately. Everything felt really different, really strange. And every time he saw Jason he had to control his temper.  
  
That was when Sirius saw Jason put his hand on the lower part of Remus's back. Sirius, as he grounded his teeth and clenched his fists, decided to think through his troubles later... but first...  
  
Jason led them to the very end of the dock where a slide and ladder were placed off the end so someone could swim. A beautiful speed boat was tied to the dock as Jason led them towards the back to get on.  
  
That was when Sirius saw his chance. A loose piece of board jutted out from the floor of the dock. He hit it just right and 'stumbled' forward pushing Jason. Jason fell, but couldn't catch himself and fell right off the dock and into the water.  
  
"Jason!" Remus gasped.  
  
Sirius tried to act shocked.  
  
Jason came up sputtering water from his mouth and climbed up the ladder on the side.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" Sirius said in his sincerest voice.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Jason waved it off, "It was an accident."  
  
Sirius did not let any emotion show through his stoic features, but his thoughts were laughing hysterically, 'That's what he thinks.'  
  
Jason ran back to his house and quickly got into some dry clothes. Sirius had to resist the urge to push him into the water again.  
  
Even though Jason had accepted the apology Sirius had given him, the raven- haired did notice that the man stayed a little farther away from him, probably in case he had anymore 'accidents'.  
  
Jason swung over the side of the boat and turned around to grab Remus's hand. Sirius was trying very hard not to growl aloud. He began to wonder if he could go to Azkaban if he changed into Padfoot and mauled the other man. Maybe if no one, besides Remus that is, found out that *he* was Padfoot... It had some possibilities.  
  
Sirius shook his head and swung his own self over onto the boat.  
  
"Go ahead and sit down," Jason started, "I have to go grab something I forgot up at the house."  
  
Jason jumped back onto the deck and walked up to the house.  
  
Sirius turned to Remus to ask if he had any idea what Jason was doing, but the look on the blonde's face made him shut his mouth immediately.  
  
"What did you do that for?!" Remus hissed.  
  
Sirius was a bit confused, "Do what?"  
  
"Knock Jay off the dock!"  
  
"It was an accident, Moony."  
  
"No, it wasn't. I saw you deliberately trip over that board. I've known you too long, Sirius, to not know when you've done something on accident!"  
  
Sirius looked away from the peering golden eyes.  
  
Remus started to feel guilty for yelling, "I'm sorry, Padfoot. It's just frustrating."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The fact that you keep giving Jason shit."  
  
"I'm not..."  
  
"Yes, you are, Padfoot. You've been uncomfortable since we met up with him at the airport. I see you watching him constantly out of the corner of your eye or glare at him every time you see him. What I want to know is, why? Why can't you give him a chance? I know you weren't exactly friends with him when he came to Hogwarts, but he's been nothing but nice to us!"  
  
Sirius looked down at his hands that had wrapped themselves around each other on his lap, "I just don't like him, Remus."  
  
"But, why? What had he ever done to..."  
  
"I don't know!" Sirius shouted a little louder then he intended too. A small blush dusted itself over his cheeks.  
  
Remus started to open his mouth to question his friend further on his strange behavior, but Jason had stepped back aboard with a cooler in his hands. He quickly tightened his lips together. Sirius, for once, was glad to see the prick.  
  
Jason didn't say a word as he sat behind the steering wheel and started up the boat. It roared to life as the engine gave off little vibrations. He moved quickly to each side of the boat untying ropes that kept it from drifting away.  
  
Sirius lazily sat at the back of the boat, as far away from Jason as possible. He watched as they reversed out of the dock, squinting as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. The waves gently lapped against the sides of the boat creating a peaceful sound and a few ducks swam nearby.  
  
Jason casually turned the boat around to face the main channel of the lake. Remus settled himself on the seat in front of Sirius and looked around at the view. Sirius really hoped the blonde wasn't too mad at him.  
  
The animagus had just gotten comfortable as they passed some weird buoying things in the water when he heard the engine give a loud roar. He was jerked back heavily and, if it wasn't for his fast reflexes, he would have been flipped off the back of the boat. Jason had hammered the speed of the boat way up!  
  
Sirius had to restrain himself from getting up and throwing the bastard off the boat. In fact, the *only* thing keeping him from doing so was that Remus was here. Lucky for Jason...  
  
Jay reduced the speed of the boat slightly while trying to hide the smirk that continually threatened to sneak up on his lips. 


	7. Hot Competition

Author's Note: For those who have been to the lake before: I cannot remember the name of this one restaurant I always go to, but I do remember that 'Shooters 21' is another one. So, even though I am saying 'Shooters' I'm describing a different restaurant.  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
~Hot Competition~  
  
Even though Sirius didn't like being so close to Jason, he felt that the ride did calm him down somewhat. It had been a few hours since they had left and all three of them were getting a bit hungry.  
  
"Jay!" Remus yelled over the engine, "Are we going back to your place to get something to eat?!"  
  
"Not unless you want to, Remmy!" Jason replied.  
  
Sirius, who could barely hear a word they were saying, heard that. He silently cracked his knuckles.  
  
"But I was thinking that we could eat at Shooters!"  
  
Remus gave him an odd glance, "Where?!"  
  
"Shooters!" Jason continued, "It's a restaurant overlooking the lake!"  
  
"Alright, let's go there then!"  
  
Jason nodded and drove for another ten minutes before pulling off into a cove. He slowed down to idle speed and started towards the dock.  
  
Sirius studied the building. It looked like a three story party house turned into a business.  
  
Jason pulled up to an open dock and turned the boat off. He hopped off and began tying it down with a few ropes. Only when it was tightly secure did he offer his hand to Remus and help him off. Sirius jumped off the boat after them.  
  
Jay led them up three flights of stairs to the first floor. It wasn't too crowed and they were seated immediately, up on the second floor next to the open railing by their waitress.  
  
"Good afternoon," the tall girl with a ponytail of red hair smiled, "I'm Deona, and I'll be your waitress. Would you like to order drinks now, or wait a couple minutes to decide?"  
  
The three picked up their menus, and the only one who looked as if he knew what anything on there was, was Jason.  
  
Jason hid a small grin upon seeing their puzzlement, "Thanks, Deona, but we'll need a few."  
  
The red-head just smiled and walked away towards the counter.  
  
"Guess I should have mentioned that this was a muggle restaurant," Jason smirked.  
  
The other two men stayed quiet.  
  
"Look, what I usually do when I'm here with some friends is order a pitcher of beer and a basket of hot wings."  
  
Remus looked buried in confusion, "Hot wings?"  
  
"Chicken wings in hot sauce," Jay chuckled to himself.  
  
"I don't really like hot food."  
  
Jason smiled, "It's alright. They can put the sauce on the side, but is that ok with you two? Hot wings and beer?"  
  
The other two men nodded.  
  
"Deona," Jason smile was way too sweet for Sirius's liking, "Can we order now?"  
  
Deona walked over to the three men, "What can I get you?"  
  
"We'd like a pitcher of your House Beer and a basket of hot wings with the hot sauce on the side please."  
  
The waitress jotted a few notes down on a small pad before leaving quickly and returning with three glasses and a pitcher full of golden liquid. She poured the drinks for the three men before leaving again for another one of her customers.  
  
Jason took a sip of his drink, "So how are you guys enjoying your stay so far?"  
  
Remus's eyes brightened slightly, "It's been great. I'm really glad we came."  
  
"I'm glad you decided to take me up on my offer. It's been a real pleasure being with you again," Jay leaned a little closer to Remus than was necessary, especially for Sirius's liking.  
  
Much to the raven hair's relief, the waitress came back with a generous basket of chicken wings. She placed them in the middle of the table and set the hot sauce right next to it, "Anything else I can get you boys?"  
  
The three shook their heads in unison. Deona smiled sweetly before heading off to the kitchens again. They dug in filling their plates.  
  
Jay poured some of the red liquid over his and laughed to himself, "Their hot sauce can make the devil's mouth burn."  
  
Sirius gruffed, "It can't be that hot."  
  
Jason raised an eyebrow at him, "I'll have you know that very few of my friends can eat more then three of these things when they're covered in this stuff."  
  
'That's probably because you haven't got that many friends,' Sirius thought as he smirked to himself, "And what about you?"  
  
"I have a cast-iron stomach. Twenty is about my limit before I get too full," Jay boasted.  
  
Remus, seeing that familiar gleam in his best friend's eyes, tried to head him off, "Sirius, don't."  
  
"I bet you I could eat more then you can."  
  
The words were out, and Jay had the same look as Sirius, "You're on."  
  
Remus just shook his head and muttered to himself, "Why do I even bother?"  
  
More hot wings were piled onto the competing men's plates and hot sauce literally covered them. Sirius could not tell if his canine nose was just picking up the smell of the sauce or if it was really that potent. Whichever it was, his nose stung of the scent.  
  
With just a nod the two men started in on their plates. Sirius took one bite into his wing and literally felt his mouth catch on fire. He was regretting making this challenge, but he didn't show anything other then a smile of contentment on his face.  
  
About a third way into their plates, both men started to feel the burn, literally. Sweat was accumulating on each of their foreheads and upper lips, but neither of them were about to give up, determined to defeat the other.  
  
The stakes were running high at about halfway through their plates when the two took a few seconds to breathe.  
  
"How about we make this a little more interesting?" Jason smirked.  
  
Sirius raised an eyebrow wiping a few drops of salty liquid away from his face, "What did you have in mind?"  
  
Remus was getting a little tired of each of their competitiveness, "Just stop. You both are going to make yourselves sick."  
  
Jason smiled, "Don't worry, Remmy. Sirius won't last once I make my proposition."  
  
Sirius growled, both at hearing his nickname to Remus and being underestimated so easily, "Talk is cheap. What is it?"  
  
Jay's smile easily grew into a smirk, "I could have Deona bring out the fire hot sauce and we could douse our wings in that."  
  
"What's the difference?"  
  
"The fire hot sauce is twice as spicy and has rumored it could put a hole through steel."  
  
Sirius faked a laughed, "Bring it on."  
  
Remus just gave up. If the two were going to fight like little boys, he was going to let them get it out of their systems.  
  
Jason ordered the sauce and the two did exactly as planned, drenched the remaining wings in it. The smell made Sirius's eyes water and burn. It was hot. By the time he got through the first wing his mouth was numb, but there was no way he was going to give up, even if his vision was going a bit fuzzy.  
  
By the time the two were done, neither could feel their mouths or their throats. Their stomachs churned in aggravation as did their growls because neither of them had won. They had both tied, and neither were *that* proud to try for more.  
  
Jason paid for the bill and staggered on ahead to start up the boat, and probably to throw up. He left Remus to pick up Sirius who was starting to look a little green.  
  
"Serves you right," Remus scolded.  
  
Sirius felt too sick to say a word.  
  
Remus hoisted him to his feet and guided him down towards the dock. He miraculously got Sirius onto the boat and Jason took off in a hurry for home. Each wave caused Sirius even more discomfort.  
  
After what seemed like hours, Jay finally tied the boat to his dock and head up to his house. Remus, once again, pulled Sirius up and made him follow the way Jason had gone. The werewolf felt like he was playing mother as he lead Sirius up to his room and stripped him of all clothes but boxers. He even went as far as to tuck the other man into bed, but the sick man didn't stay there long.  
  
In a bout of nausea, Sirius leaped out of bed and ran into the bathroom where Remus heard the continual sound of retching. The blonde sighed in sympathy. Even though Sirius had done this to himself, he didn't like it when his best friend felt this bad.  
  
Remus walked into the bathroom and knelt down beside Sirius who was sitting in front of the toilet with his head over the bowl. The blonde pulled back the man's hair away from his face and began rubbing soothing circles into his back. Sirius had another retching attack before he slumped down away from the toilet and sat with his back to the wall.  
  
"Ugg," was all he managed to say.  
  
Remus just shook his head and hoisted his friend to unsteady feet for the third time that day. He shuffled them into the bedroom, careful to not jar him too much lest he throw up again. Sirius, quite cooperatively, got into bed and allowed Remus to tuck him in again; something he didn't normally like when he was sick.  
  
Making sure Sirius was falling asleep, Remus turned off the lights and closed the door behind him muttering, "Goodnight, Siri," as he went.  
  
|~*~|  
  
Sirius once again awoke to the feeling of somebody watching him. A slight breeze blew over his face as he opened his eyes and noticed the balcony door was open. He had a feeling who was here.  
  
"Remus?" Sirius called out. He noted that he felt much better than before; definitely much better.  
  
"I'm here," Remus's voice sounded weak.  
  
Sirius shot straight up and saw the blonde leaning up against the dresser for support. He jumped out of bed and was at his side in an instant, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Not... feeling... well," his voice came out in ragged gasps.  
  
Sirius turned on a small lamp beside them and for the first time, saw just how pale Remus actually was. His skin was slick with sheen sweat and his eyes were starting to glaze over. The blonde's body was shaking and he looked incredibly frail. His knees gave out from under him and he landed right against Sirius who held onto him tightly.  
  
Sirius scooped the other man up into his arms and laid him gently onto his bed, "Stay awake, Remmy. You have to tell me what's wrong. What can I do?"  
  
"It's the... moon," Remus heaved out.  
  
"The moon?" Sirius questioned, "But full moon was two weeks ago. You still have another two to go."  
  
Remus shook his head slightly, "America... moon cycle is... different..."  
  
Sirius ran out onto the balcony and looked up. Sure enough, the moon was full and bright. Sirius could only think of one word to say, "Shit." 


	8. Revelation and Mind Tricks

Author's Note: Ok, I have no idea if the moon cycle is different. Everyone seems to have different opinions and now I'm confused! All well... I wrote this before I knew about the moon so if it isn't accurate just pretend! After all, that's what we writer's do best is it not? Lol.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
~Revelation and Mind Tricks~  
  
Sirius raced back to Remus's side, "Are you going to be alright? Why haven't you transformed?!"  
  
Remus heard the urgency in his best friend's voice, "I'll be alright... Siri. It just... is a bit... uncomfortable..."  
  
"It looks like it hurts like hell," Sirius felt his forehead, "You're burning up, and you didn't explain why you aren't transforming."  
  
Remus shut his eyes, "Wolf... isn't strong enough... to take over..."  
  
"Remmy, listen to me, stay awake for now. Just until I get back. I have to go to the bathroom for a second. Can you do that?"  
  
Remus shook his head in agreement.  
  
Sirius quickly went into his bathroom, filled a bowl with cold water, and grabbed a rag. It took him a whole thirty seconds.  
  
"Are you still with me?"  
  
Remus cracked a small smile, "Barely."  
  
Sirius sat on the edge of the bed next to Remus and damped his forehead with the, now, wet cloth, "Now you can rest. Try to get some sleep."  
  
"Its getting a bit cold," the werewolf whispered.  
  
Sirius pulled the blankets more tightly around the blonde, closed the balcony door, turned off the light, and then sat back down. He continued to wipe the sweat away from Remus's face long after his breathing fell into a steady rhythm and he was fast asleep.  
  
It was a little weird to Sirius that he was taking care of the werewolf. He never felt he could 'mother' over someone the way he did Remus. Nobody else had ever seen this side of him before; not even James. In fact, James used to joke about him being able to kill someone if they had a cough and he tried to take care of them, and it was probably true. He never had the instincts to help a sick person. Whenever one of the marauders were sick, it was usually Remus who took care of them until they got better if they didn't want to go to Pomfrey, which was all the time. But when Remus was sick, James was as helpless as Peter; which says quite a lot in itself. Sirius was always the one to take care of the werewolf when he was under the weather, and no matter how much Sirius messed up, Remus was always patient and never got mad. That was so... Remus.  
  
In fact, now that Sirius thought about it, he always did keep an eye on the blonde; even now. It was strange how he never noticed it, but he always gave a little extra attention to the werewolf. Whenever Remus was down, he was always the one to cheer him up. Whenever Remus was lonely, he was always the one to keep him company. Whenever Remus was sad, it was always him that noticed first. It was always him. Always him.  
  
So what if he had a special little place in his heart for Remus. It wasn't anything unusual, was it? Of course not; Remus was the last of his best friends, it was natural to keep him close. But then again, that didn't explain why he always held a special place for the blonde in him when they were teenagers. What could it mean? It was almost like he was...  
  
Sirius snapped back into reality and almost fell off the side of the bed, 'No way. There is no way!!'  
  
But it had to be the way. It would definitely explain why he would get edgy and, dare he think... jealous, whenever Jason was around Remus. It was the only reasonable explanation, other than that he was completely off his rocker, which was a possibility.  
  
Sirius jumped off the bed as if it had burned him. He glanced back at the sleeping werewolf. Moonlight shone through the balcony door and onto his face giving him a surreal appearance. His golden locks fell lightly around his ears making him seem to have a halo around his head.  
  
His stomach clenched, 'No way...'  
  
His thoughts weren't unbelieving anymore, but more of in an awe. How long had he felt like this towards his best friend? When he was a teenager... could that have been called puppy love? Sirius smiled to himself as the term could be applied literally to their case.  
  
But he knew somehow that what he felt in the present felt deeper than a mere crush, but, honest to God, love. He didn't even know what love felt like, but for some reason he just knew this is what it was. Love was flittering feelings in his stomach, teeth-clenching jealousy when anyone else was near, small glances of knowing across a room that nobody else noticed, but most of all, love had silky blonde hair, beautiful golden eyes, a genuine smile, and creamy smooth skin. Love was Remus.  
  
'Oh Merlin,' Sirius bit his tongue to keep from laughing aloud, 'I'm a pouf. Sirius Black, womanizer of his time, is an, honest to God, bloody pouf. The irony of it all...'  
  
Sirius was jerked out of his thoughts with the sound of something clattering together. He looked around for the source when he noticed it was coming from the bed.  
  
"S-Sirius," a sleepy voice called out.  
  
"Don't worry; I'm here," Sirius berated himself. He sounded like he was talking in a trashy romance novel.  
  
"It-t's really c-cold in here."  
  
Sirius could visibly see Remus shake even though it was dark, "Hold on, I'll look for some blankets."  
  
Sirius searched the entire room for any extra covers, but none were to be found. He didn't feel comfortable going to search for any through the rest of the house, and he *really* didn't feel happy with the thought of going to wake up Jason to ask him for help.  
  
"I can't find anymore blankets, Remmy," Sirius felt helpless.  
  
"Its alr-right, S-Siri," Sirius smiled at the recently given nickname, "D- Do you... do you think you c-could keep me warm inst-tead?"  
  
Sirius had to pause for a second before a slight blush began to form over his cheeks. He was so glad it was dark, "Um... I guess."  
  
Sirius slowly made his way over to the other side of the bed and slid in- between the sheets. His stomach was doing flip-flops as he scooted himself over to the middle of the bed. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal to him, but it was. They've shared a bed before, especially when they crashed with each other after drinking a little too much; so it really wasn't that big of a deal. After all, it was just for body heat so Remus could warm up.  
  
That's all it was until Remus also moved to the middle of the bed and snuggled his back against Sirius. Sirius froze and stiffened, unaware of what he should do next. It wasn't until he felt Remus shaking against his body did he make up his mind. Unsure of himself, he casually draped his arm across Remus; a bit afraid that that was going a tad too far for the blonde.  
  
Remus didn't object, but snuggled even deeper into Sirius. "Warmth," Remus practically purred.  
  
Now, if Sirius had thought about the situation just a bit more, he would have realized that he could have just used a warming charm on Remus, or at least grabbed Remus's blanket from his room. All in all, this was much more comfortable.  
  
Sirius could suddenly feel every little nerve in his skin. Remus was only sleeping in an incredibly thin shirt and shorts. This was one time Sirius wished he didn't sleep in only his boxers. His skin burned like hot flames wherever it touched the werewolf. It was unbelievable how... alive he felt.  
  
Sirius rested his head atop of Remus's and, slowly, fell asleep together.  
  
|~*~|  
  
Unbeknownst to either of the sleeping men in Sirius's room, a shadow outside on the balcony growled as it looked through the glass door on the sight inside.  
  
|~*~|  
  
Sirius had never felt so refreshed since his years as a teenager. He felt as if he slept for ten years! It was amazing how great he felt that he didn't want to open his eyes just yet for the start of another day. It was then that he began to feel a presence in his arms.  
  
Sirius slowly opened his eyes in surprise to see Remus; then the memories of last night returned. During the middle of the night, Remus must have turned to face him and had now snuggled his face in the crook of Sirius's neck and he, in turn, had wrapped both arms around the blonde. It was far from uncomfortable, and Sirius even went as far as thinking that he could wake up like this any day.  
  
It was then that he noticed a ghostly breeze on his neck. Remus's breathing was tickling! He had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't start laughing, but his chest shook slightly anyway.  
  
Remus groaned slightly, "Mmm, too early..."  
  
"I don't think so. It's nearly nine o'clock. You're usually up by now dragging my arse out of bed," Sirius finally let out his laughter.  
  
Remus snapped his eyes open and looked up in surprise, "Sirius?! What are you doing in my bedroom?!"  
  
Sirius let out a smaller chuckle, "If I remember things clearly, this would be my bedroom."  
  
Remus let out a small gasp when he looked up and noticed the Abraxans casually grazing on the ceiling, "How did I get here?"  
  
"You don't remember?"  
  
Remus thought back, "Just bits and pieces. I remember the full moon and waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, then feeling really sick, but that's about it. That's why I woke you up the night before, too; I wasn't feeling right."  
  
"So why did you leave without telling me that in the first place?"  
  
"I decided that it was too much of a bother and I didn't want to worry you."  
  
"Remus, you are never a bother, and I'd rather worry over you then let you be sick alone."  
  
Remus smiled, "Thanks, Padfoot."  
  
"Anytime, Moony."  
  
Remus untangled himself from the other man, much to Sirius's displeasure, and with a small blush on his cheeks, "I don't know about you, but I could really use a shower."  
  
Sirius thought about it for a second, "Me, too."  
  
"Do you want to come join me?"  
  
It took a second to comprehend the statement before Sirius's eyes went wide in shock, "W-What?!"  
  
Remus stared at him as if he had lost his mind, "I said 'Do you want to go before me?'"  
  
"Oh," Sirius shook his head, "No, you go ahead."  
  
'That was *not* what I thought he first said...' Sirius thought.  
  
"Would you mind if I overpowered you, Sirius?"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Are you having a hearing problem today, Padfoot? I said 'Would you mind if I used your shower, it's closer."  
  
"No, I don't mind," Sirius mentally berated himself, 'I am definitely losing it. That didn't even really sound the same!'  
  
"Mind if I use your hand, too?"  
  
Sirius blinked, "I... huh?"  
  
Remus was about ready to shake the taller man before him, "Is there something in your ears, Sirius? I asked if you'd mind if I used your shampoo."  
  
Sirius blushed the slightest bit, "No, go right ahead.'  
  
Of course, any of the other suggestions he thought he had heard didn't seem like bad ideas either...  
  
Remus gave Sirius one more odd stare before he headed into the bathroom. He shut the door and Sirius threw himself onto his bed face up staring at the horses that were just trotting along without so much as a care in the world.  
  
His mind was playing tricks on him and he hated it! He heard half of what Remus was saying, then, apparently, his mind filled in the blanks on its own! Arrrrggg!!! This was going to be one frustrating day.  
  
Sirius's sensitive ears heard the sound of a lock slipping from its place. He looked up and saw the bathroom door slowly swing open. Remus mustn't have shut the door all the way closed.  
  
It wasn't a big deal. All he saw were the mirrors... which, at Sirius's position, directly showed him a view of the shower, where Remus was, behind clear glass... completely naked.  
  
'No!' Sirius scolded himself, 'I can't do that to Remus. He doesn't know I can see him. It wouldn't be right, it wouldn't be...'  
  
Unconsciously, Sirius's eyes followed to the direction of the mirror where he got a full view of Remus rinsing his hair off. He couldn't see much detail, but Sirius could tell he was beautiful. Absolutely perfect.  
  
It wasn't as if Sirius had never seen Remus naked before. Hell, they have lived together for years and, in Hogwarts, had showered together. Scratch that... had used the showers at the same time... That still doesn't sound right. Had... showered at the same time, but used different shower cubicles. There.  
  
But never before had Sirius looked freely on Remus's body like he was doing now. Back when he was in school, he would have thought he was turning gay. He wasn't really gay, per say... more like... Remus-sexual? Yeah, he liked that. He was Remus-sexual. Remus was beautiful after all and deserved his own preference word.  
  
'God,' Sirius groaned, 'Being a pouf is turning me sappy.' His eyes gazed over Remus, 'And yet, if he is what turning into a pouf is all about, then I'm game. Sappy can be good.'  
  
Sirius could hear the shower door open and shut, but by this time, the mirrors had fogged up so he couldn't see anything.  
  
His displeasure was greatly satisfied when Remus came walking out of the bathroom with just a fluffy white towel hanging dangerously low around his waist.  
  
Sirius did a once over... three times. Remus's hair was still wet and dripping slightly so drops of water slid, glistening down his small chest slowly, as if mocking Sirius that he wasn't the one who could slide all over Remus. They moved further down to Remus's abs which showed the hints of a small six-pack. His skin was like porcelain and flawless right down to the crescent moon shaped scar on his shoulder.  
  
Remus seemed not to notice, "Forgot I didn't have any clothes."  
  
This snapped Sirius out of his little daydream.  
  
Remus walked out of the room and down the hall while Sirius continued to stay on the bed, thinking. He heard muffled voices coming from his door so he got up and peered out of it. His presence remained unknown as Remus and Jason talked in the hallway.  
  
Sirius watched as Jason's gaze began to lower to Remus's chest and the line of the towel that was now *too* low for Sirius's taste. Even though it was still at the same height when he had first saw it.  
  
Sirius's hands clenched into tight fists and his eyes literally looked as if flames were burning in his pupils.  
  
If that wasn't enough, Jason was leaning closer to Remus until the two barely touched. Remus began to look uncomfortable and took a step back until he was against the wall, but Jason moved forward as well. As the two talked, Jay started letting 'innocent' touches escape from his movements.  
  
Sirius was seeing red as Jason's hand ghosted over Remus's shoulders and arms, then to his hips. It wasn't really noticeable, and definitely not all at once, but Sirius knew what he was doing. Apparently, so did Remus because he began to break out in a blush.  
  
But the conversation was what really got him.  
  
"You know, you are really gorgeous," Jason whispered.  
  
"Thank you," Remus sounded calm, but Sirius knew him too well. The blonde's shoulders were tensing up slightly.  
  
Sirius waited in agony to see what would happen, but what was going to happen really made him angry.  
  
Jason leaned into Remus and tilted his head down slowly as if to kiss him, but stopped halfway. He stood again, said a few whispered words to the blonde, and then walked downstairs. Sirius felt his nails digging into his palms. He wanted to hit something... or *someone* so badly he was shaking. Jason was going to regret what he had tried to do. 


	9. Trouble

Author's Note: I am SO sorry this took so long to get out. My computer has been so fucked up lately I am going to go crazy! I fixed it enough to post this THANKFULLY! Please excuse any grammar mistakes; I know there are quite a few in this one. I only had the chance to check over it once so I could get it out in a hurry! Thank you!!!

Trouble  
  
Sirius finally unclenched his fists barely resisting the urge to slam them through a wall... or Jason's face. Both are about the same anyway being mostly hollow, although Sirius would bet anything to say the wall had a higher IQ.  
  
His attention was finally drawn back to Remus who just disappeared into his room. Sirius followed after the blonde still slightly shaking in rage. He stomped inside and practically slammed the door behind him.  
  
"What the hell did he say to you?!" Sirius demanded.  
  
Remus, who had managed to get into a pair of pants, stood stunned at his friend's outbreak, "What do you mean?"  
  
"He whispered something to you while he was practically harassing you! I want to know what it was!"  
  
The werewolf, still surprised at the seething appearance of Sirius, just shrugged, "It was nothing."  
  
"The bloody hell it was!" Sirius stormed over in front of Remus, "I want to know what he said!"  
  
Remus started to get aggravated by Sirius's demanding tone, "Who are you, my father? If you didn't realize, Sirius, I'm an adult! I don't need to tell you everything just because you bark out orders! What has gotten into you?!"  
  
"Into me?! How about into you?!"  
  
"Me?!" Remus questioned, "What are you on about, Sirius?!"  
  
"Yeah, you! Jason was all over you out there and you didn't lift a finger to try and stop him! You just allowed him to keep touching you when I was standing right in the doorway!" Sirius shouted.  
  
Remus couldn't believe his ears, "One, I had no idea you were watching us! Two, what I do is none of your concern! And, three, just because we've been friends for over twenty-five years, doesn't mean you own me! I am not yours to control!!"  
  
Sirius stopped midway with what he was about to say. That sentence hit him like a ton of bricks. He really was acting like a jealous boyfriend. For God's sake, he was yelling at Remus because of something Jason had done! But that phrase 'I am not yours'... that seemed to hurt worse than ten Cruciatus Curses at once. It ripped away his heart and burned into his soul.  
  
All at once, his rage drained away, "I... I'm sorry, Moony." He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his face in his hands, "I don't know what came over me."  
  
Remus's anger disappeared just as quick. He sat down next to Sirius and draped an arm over his shoulder, "Sirius, what's wrong? You haven't been acting the same lately. You're beginning to worry me."  
  
Sirius could feel his companion's bare arm burn his skin through his shirt. He scooted over just out of reach, "Don't."  
  
Remus looked hurt and confused all at once, "But Sir..."  
  
"Just don't, Remus," Sirius stood and walked out of the room.  
  
He wasn't able to close the door fast enough not to hear Remus murmur, "I don't understand."  
  
Sirius leaned against the wall in a slump. He hadn't meant to hurt Remus; that was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. He was just too afraid to talk to Remus about what had been going on lately. If the conversation even edged toward that cliff he might give way and jump, but there was no way he wanted to jeopardize his lifelong friendship.  
  
He slumped back into his room and quietly shut the door. Sirius walked over to his bed, turned around, and fell onto his back. His gaze was taken over by the vision of the Abraxan horses munching a few blades of grass. Eyes were one thing; his thoughts were in a completely different place. He kept thinking about the look Jason had in his eyes when he was practically groping his best friend. It was eerily predatorily. Nothing in short of making Sirius want to bash his head in again, but something was really off about it. The more he thought about it, the more pissed he became.  
  
Sirius couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and stormed out into the hallway making about as much noise as a hippogriff on a rampage going down the stairs. He was so occupied with finding Jason that he didn't even notice Remus following him down the stairs.  
  
"Randall!" Sirius bellowed out from the living room.  
  
Jason came walking in very smoothly; too calmly as well since he was having Sirius glare at him with almost as much hatred at Pettigrew had seen during his trials.  
  
Remus stood back in the hallway finally too sick and tired of dealing with Sirius's mood swings to do anything. Neither had seen him yet, or giving any clue they had, and maybe he would finally understand why Sirius was acting so strange.  
  
"Somebody doesn't look happy," Jason chortled.  
  
Sirius breathed anger from his nose, "Stay away from Remus."  
  
Jason didn't even blink, "He is a guest in my house. I cannot simply ignore him because you threaten me."  
  
"Oh no," Sirius drawled, "I haven't even begun to threaten you yet."  
  
"Right... like you could actually do anything. Like it or not," Jason gave a smirk, "Remmy is my friend."  
  
"Don't call him that," Sirius was biting down on his cheek.  
  
"What? Have I entered a touchy subject?" Jason finally caught sight of Remus peering into the room, "Fine, if I have wrongfully done something against your better judgment, I am sorry, Sirius."  
  
Sirius blinked, too confused to say anything at the moment.  
  
Jason walked past an uptight Sirius when the animagus saw Remus, too, 'Why that son of a bitch.'  
  
Remus was also a bit surprised by the sudden ending of the argument, but it left his mind when Jason came up to him.  
  
"Would you like to go for a ride with me on my wave runner? It seats two and I think Sirius needs some time to cool off."  
  
Rems looked over at Sirius questioningly while asking, "What's a wave runner?"  
  
"It is sort of like a small boat without sides," Jason answered, "It will be fun; please say you'll come with me?"  
  
"Sure, why not," Remus shrugged thinking Sirius could use a little time alone.  
  
"Great!" Jason smiled, "Go get some swim trunks on and I'll be up in a second."  
  
Sirius watched Remus go up the stairs then turned back to Jason. Jason only gave a wicked grin before following the blonde.  
  
Sirius stormed out of the house and sat into a reclined chair that overlooked the lake. The sun's rays on his face only calmed him a little until Jason came out with Remus behind him. Remus whispered something to Jay making him nod and go on ahead.  
  
"Sirius?"  
  
The man in question only grunted.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
Sirius didn't answer.  
  
Remus sighed, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. He just nodded sadly at his friend and continued down to the dock.  
  
Sirius didn't take his eyes off the werewolf until they were both on one of the two wave runners—Jason in front—and Remus hanging onto the jackass's waist; much to Sirius's displeasure. They took off slowly and then began to speed up out of the animagus' sight.  
  
The raven haired man shifted in his chair uncomfortably. His eyes began to droop as the warm sun hit his entire body making him sleepy in the early morning. Before he knew it, he gave his mind over to the darkness.

Sirius woke with a sudden start. Sweat lined his forehead as he looked around into the fading light of the sun. How long had he slept?! A knot formed at the bottom of his stomach. Something was definitely wrong.  
  
He urged his eyes to search farther when they scanned over the dock. The wave runner Remus and Jason had taken was still gone. It was getting dark; they should have been back by now!  
  
Sirius ran down to the dock and looked out onto the lake, nothing. His brain barely caught up as he flung himself on the other wave runner before realizing he had no idea what the hell he was doing! His fingers began hitting buttons.  
  
Sirius began getting aggravated and slammed his fists down, "Start dammit!"  
  
The engine roared to life much to Sirius's surprise. He took a minute and untied the rope that held him to the dock. He floated a little before pushing a lever on the right handle. It gave a loud sound before almost knocking Sirius off the seat. He had found the gas.  
  
Sirius whipped out into the open as fast as he dared to go. His heart was racing and his whole body trembled, but with no reason other than his bad feeling. A few minutes into racing around, having no idea where he was going, he saw a dot too small to be any boat. He prayed to any god that heard him to let that be them.  
  
He raced out onto the lake and the closer Sirius got to them, the worse his bad feeling became. As he got closer, Sirius saw Jason clutching Remus in front of him, but there was a problem... Remus didn't look awake.  
  
Sirius finally sidled up to them and had his thought confirmed. Remus wasn't awake, and there was a bit of bruising around his face.  
  
"What happened?!" Sirius shouted half in a panic, "Is Remus ok?!"  
  
"He'll be fine if we can get him to my hospital. I was teaching Remus how to drive when the acceleration got stuck and flipped us over on a wave."  
  
"Let's go!" Sirius whirled around and the two drove as fast as they could with the sun going down, Sirius not really knowing how to drive, and Jason still grabbing onto Remus so he wouldn't fall off.  
  
They both docked in a hurry barely throwing a rope over the wave runners before speeding up to Jason's car. Sirius climbed into the back and Jason handed the unconscious Remus to the animagus. Jay ran to the driver's side and popped his wand into the ignition using a spell to start the car, too much in a hurry to go inside and grab his keys, and skidded out onto the road.  
  
It was about three minutes in the car when Sirius realized something, "Why don't we apparate to your hospital? Would that not be faster?"  
  
"I don't want to risk anymore injuries to Remus by magically transporting him. It is too dangerous," Jason seemed to tense when he answered.  
  
Sirius didn't understand the logic in Jason's answer, but he was no Healer. Instead, he gathered Remus tightly in his arms and held him close.  
  
The ride took less than ten minutes, but it felt like years to Sirius. The car finally stopped in front of an old broken-down building. The two scrambled out of the car, Sirius carrying Remus, and stopped before a door. Jason waved his wand over it and opened the newly formed entrance. Inside was completely different than the outside, but it wasn't like St. Mungo's hospital. There was a certain feeling he didn't like at all in here.  
  
He brushed it off, "Remus comes first."  
  
Jason led them into an empty waiting room, "I'll take Remus to an examining room. I have another Healer here who specializes in these kinds of injuries."  
  
Reluctantly, Sirius handed his friend over to someone he practically hated, did hate, but it was for Remus's sake. He watched the two disappear behind double doors.  
  
Sirius sat in one of the chairs by the wall. Something was still nagging at his gut telling him this was wrong, but what? It seemed like a normal hospital with the chairs, the white walls, clean floor, antiseptic smell, and irritable reception behind the desk... but... the waiting room was... empty. There weren't any people around besides the nurse. It wasn't that late and even the smallest hospitals had a few patients around with magic injuries, and this was a populated wizard town.  
  
The hair on the back of Sirius's neck stood on end but he forced himself to relax.  
  
Five minutes hadn't even passed when Sirius heard a loud yell for help coming from the hall that sounded exactly like Remus.


	10. Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told  
  
Sirius jumped up out of his chair and bolted towards the double doors. He thought he heard the receptionist say something, but he didn't listen. A long hallway appeared before him with many doors among it. The animagus started down, following the white tile until he came to a fork.  
  
'Which way?!' Sirius could feel his heart racing.  
  
A door opened thirty feet from him to his right and a brunette man in white scrubs came walking out. Before he closed the door Sirius heard Remus shouting his name from the room.  
  
Sirius came charging down the right hallway.  
  
The man who had come out from the door raised his hands, "You aren't suppose to be back here. Now if you please follow me I will direct you back to the waiting room."  
  
"My friend is calling me from that room. There is nothing you can do to make me not go in there," Sirius growled.  
  
"You are not allowed in there," the man said in a voice that said he demanded authority.  
  
Sirius glared, "Get out of my way."  
  
The man put a firm handgrip on Sirius's left shoulder, "Let's go."  
  
The animagus drew back his right arm and hit the brunette square in the jaw with a sickening crack. The man fell backwards onto the floor unconscious. Sirius gave him one last kick in the ribs before sprinting to the door he had heard Remus's voice come out of and opened it.  
  
Inside he was greeted by an awful sight. Jason and a blond man were bending over Remus who was tied to an examining table by what looked like metal cuffs on his wrists and ankles.  
  
Remus tilted his head up, "Sirius!"  
  
"What in the bloody hell is going on?!!" Sirius shouted.  
  
The two men looked up startled.  
  
Sirius used the advantage and lunged at Jason knocking him to the ground. He hit him in the right eye causing immediate bruising. That was all he could do before an invisible force pulled him off of the body beneath him. Sirius could only move his head so he craned it around to see the blonde with his wand pointed at him.  
  
The man with the wand flicked it and Sirius was thrown against the wall. Chains came out to wrap around his wrists and ankles tying him against the white brick. He pulled against them trying to break free.  
  
Jason stood up wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his eye, "Well, well, well..."  
  
Sirius was so pissed he was visibly shaking in unreleased rage, "What the hell do you want with us?"  
  
Jason clicked his tongue and came up to him, "It's not really you I want, Sirius, it's him," he pointed over his shoulder at Remus.  
  
"What do you want with Remus?" Sirius spat.  
  
"First things first, Mark," the blonde man came over to him, "Search him for his wand."  
  
Mark patted Sirius against his sides then drew a wand from within his pocket. Sirius growled. Jason took the wand from his assistant.  
  
"Now, to answer your question," Jason chuckled slightly, "We want Remus for his blood."  
  
"His blood?!" Sirius shouted, "For what?! You'll never get it with me around!"  
  
Jason smirked, "We want it. 'We' as in my underground team of researchers."  
  
"Researchers of what?"  
  
"Of physical characteristics changing potions. You see," Jason drawled, "with this advance potion we have been creating, it has the ability of changing one person to look like anything he or she wishes."  
  
"But that's illegal!" Remus shouted from the table.  
  
Jason laughed, "Of course it is. That's why there are protective wards around this place to keep people from the ministry away from here. It was because of those that I couldn't just apperate us here. The wards didn't allow it, and I knew you would get suspicious if I apperated us to a location to far away from the normal range of hospitals."  
  
"That still doesn't explain why you want Remus's blood!" Sirius shouted.  
  
"We really don't want Remus's blood; we want the werewolf's blood."  
  
"How do you know I'm a werewolf?!" Remus squeaked.  
  
"Oh please," Jason turned to Remus and waved it off, "in fifth year you were always disappearing around the full moon and you came back whiter than that ghost thing that was always around near the tower. I've always had my suspicion that you were one, but it wasn't confirmed until I transfigured that full moon over just my house and saw you become very ill."  
  
"I knew the moon cycle wasn't right," Remus growled.  
  
"Yes, and now I can do a stronger version of that spell here and make you transform into that hideous beast that lies inside you waiting to be released so I can take its blood.  
  
"Shut up," Jason smacked Sirius's face as he started to open his mouth, "We found out that werewolf blood is one of the main ingredients in the potion. The first batch we tried out worked like a charm."  
  
Jason did a little twirl to show what he meant.  
  
"So that's why you look so different," Remus muttered.  
  
"It is true. I was the first to try it and now look at me. Honestly, do you think I could go from a skinny redheaded twerp to this?"  
  
"But where did you get the blood for the first potion?" Sirius question gritting his teeth together.  
  
"Oh, there was a resident werewolf that everyone was dying to get rid of so it just... disappeared."  
  
Remus's eyes shone with hatred, "You killed him."  
  
"Actually, it was a her, but you get the idea."  
  
"You monster," Remus snapped.  
  
"Yes," Jason quipped, "the price one pays for science. And this potion will go up for sale on the Black Wizarding Market and be sold for millions in gold. So I will be a rich monster, but rich all the same."  
  
"But why didn't you take Remus to a normal hospital after you guys flipped on the wave runner?! He could have seriously been injured!"  
  
"Flipped?!" Remus shouted, "Jason, you hit me off the damn thing and knocked me out cold!"  
  
Jason shrugged, "Yes, well I needed an excuse to get you here. That and the right moment, after my suspicions were confirmed.  
  
"Now, enough talking. It is time to get to work. Mark, lengthen those chains on the werewolf's table so he'll have just enough room, but not too much were the fucker can get to us."  
  
Mark did as he was told.  
  
"Let Remus go," Sirius threatened struggling against his chains.  
  
Jason did a low drawn-out laugh, "I don't think so."  
  
Sirius tried turning into Padfoot hoping that his animagus form was small enough to slip out from the chains. A strong shock erupted in his body and he was forced to stop from the pain.  
  
Jason laughed, "Those are magic blocking chains, so don't try anything... that is... unless you want to die..."  
  
Sirius glared trying to get his mind to work faster than it ever had before.  
  
Jason raised his wand and a soft white light began to glow from the tip. It grew brighter and larger until it was a small replica of the actual moon. It floated to the ceiling  
  
Jay flicked his wand again and Sirius could feel the power growing in the little orb. Remus jerked at his chains trying to restrain the wolf. He let out a sharp gasp in pain.  
  
"Hold on, Remus," Sirius called, "I'll figure something out."  
  
Jason chuckled, "Ah, yes, Remus's little boyfriend is going to come rescue him."  
  
"I am not his boyfriend," Sirius grunted.  
  
"Yes, but you'd like to be, wouldn't you, Black? You'd love to be able to claim this werewolf as your own."  
  
"I..." Sirius started.  
  
"Don't try to deny it, Black," Jason drawled, "I can see it in your eyes. Don't think I didn't notice the death glares you sent my way whenever I was around your precious little werewolf."  
  
Sirius could feel the blush creep up into his cheeks. He looked down at the floor unable to argue.  
  
"Sirius?" A small and weak voice questioned from across the room, "Is this true?"  
  
Sirius forced himself to look up and into honey-colored eyes that were full of pain. Even if he wanted to deny his feelings for his best friend... he couldn't... and he didn't want to. He could now see sweat trickle down the blonde's face and the aching expression it held. He concentrated fully on Remus's eyes where he expected to find disgust and revulsion, but couldn't find a trace of either. All he saw was a look of curiosity and a dim sparkle.  
  
The animagus couldn't do anything but blush harder and look down at the floor.  
  
"Enough with the sappy romance crap," Jay snarled, "This is making me sick."  
  
Jason flicked his wand once more and a burst of energy was released into the white orb at the ceiling. Remus cried out as pain waves wracked through his body. He could feel his body succumbing to the darkness.  
  
"Stop!" Sirius shouted straining himself against his binds. Pure fear began to rise up inside of him, "You'll kill him! His wolf side isn't strong enough to take over!"  
  
"That's nothing a little more moon energy can't take care of," Jason laughed raising his wand once more.  
  
"NO!" Sirius shouted sending all his power into one force at the chains. He could feel the bolts in the walls giving out to his burst of strength. Sirius lunged at Jason finally free of his ties. Jason dropped his wand in shock and went to protect his head with his arms.  
  
Mark used his own wand trying to spell the attacker, but Sirius was like a madman. He whipped the chains still connected to his wrist and slammed them into Mark's head who went down unconscious.  
  
Jason stood up and knocked into Sirius's waist knocking him over. Sirius barely felt a thing as he sharply turned around and smashed his elbow into Jason's jaw. Jason jerked backwards holding his hand over his mouth as blood poured down his lips. He flew at Sirius connecting his fist to the animagus' left eye. Sirius was growing tired and gathered the chain into his hands and crushed it into Jason's skull with as much strength as he could muster. Jason fell over and didn't move.  
  
Sirius could still hear Remus whimpering as he crawled over to where Jason's wand had landed and snapped it in half. At once, the tiny moon exploded and the room was silent. He grabbed his own wand where it laid a few feet from him.  
  
Sirius pulled himself up on staggering legs and bent over a still Remus. He ran his hand through the blonde's hair, "Wake up, Remmy."  
  
Remus didn't answer.  
  
"Please wake up," Sirius whispered, tears beginning to form in his eyes, "I can't live without you."  
  
Remus let out a small groan as he slit his eyes open, "Sirius?"  
  
"Shhh," Sirius soothed still running his hand through soft locks, "It's going to be alright."  
  
Sirius used his wand to unlock the cuffs binding Remus to the table. Remus sat up shakily, rubbing at where the metal had pulled at his skin.  
  
More silence filled the room as Sirius looked down into confused eyes, "Did you mean it?"  
  
Sirius raised a tired eyebrow, "Mean what?"  
  
"That you couldn't live without me."  
  
Sirius sat down on the table with his back to the werewolf and closed his eyes. He exhaled an unsteady breath and said quietly, "Yes... I did. I was so scared that you were going to die... I love you, Remus."  
  
A warm hand ghosted across his cheek, turning him slightly, "Look at me, Sirius."  
  
Sirius carefully slide his eyes open afraid with what might greet him on the other side of his lids. There was still no disgust, just plain utter confusion.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me before?"  
  
"I didn't realize it until recently, and I-I was afraid if I said anything... it would ruin out friendship."  
  
"Sirius," Remus said in a completely serious voice, "Nothing, nothing you could do or say could ever ruin our friendship."  
  
Sirius was about to agree and apologize, but he never got the chance. A pair of warm lips silenced him as they settled on his. Sirius was so shocked that he couldn't do anything for a moment. It took a minute for his brain to catch up with all that had happened before it told his own lips to reciprocate.  
  
A pair of arms wrapped around his neck and he turned more to place his hands comfortably on the perfect waist before him. Sirius shivered as a hand, Remus's hand, started playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. He smiled into the kiss.  
  
When they pulled back for breath, Sirius looked deeply into two perfect honey-colored eyes. He leaned his forehead against his love's, content on just being with him.  
  
Remus parted his lips to say something when the door burst open, "Everybody freez...! What in the hell happened here?!!" 


	11. Life Completed

**_Life Completed_**

Sirius jumped up in shock, moving so he stood between Remus and the man at the door, "Who are you?"

"I'm Brian Daniels, chief investigator for the American Ministry," the brunette flashed an official badge-looking seal at the two men, "Are you two Sirius Black and Remus Lupin?"

Remus moved out from behind Sirius, "How do you know us?"

"We've been trailing you two ever since you left from London," more official-looking wizards started to fill the room, handcuffing the two unconscious men on the floor and carrying them out, "We caught on to Randall's plan by one of our undercover officers, who, by the way, was knocked out cold by you, Mr. Black."

Sirius felt a barely visible blush creep onto his face, "Was that the guy I hit in the hallway?"

"Yes, he was. I thought you were going to mess up our whole plan by coming in here, but in fact, made it better than anyone thought. You got Randall's entire confession out of him without even trying." When Daniels say the blank look on the two men's faces he explained, "The room was bugged."

He reached down inside a black trashcan and pulled out a black circle the size of a knut, "It's a muggle device. It allowed us to record the entire conversation in this room. Didn't think muggles would ever come up with a device that was handy, but this thing is not magically detectable. Now we have enough evidence to bring Randall before the Ministry."

Remus nodded his head, "So you've been watching us this entire time?"

"Yep, one man was always on your tail. Sorry, we couldn't do anything when he hit you off the jet ski. It would not only have giving up our position, but we knew he was going to make his move."

Sirius could finally feel the adrenaline start to run out from his veins. It was then that he felt a throbbing pain in his left wrist, "Ow!"

Remus turned his golden eyes to his mate, "What's wrong?"

Sirius held onto his wrist, "I think I broke my wrist when I yanked the chains from the wall."

Brian walked over and took a look at Sirius's wrist gently, "Yeah, it feels broken. There's an ambulance outside that can take the both of you to the hospital."

* * *

One week later...

"Oh, it feels so good to be home," Remus groaned as he took his first step inside his house.

"You're telling me," Sirius threw his luggage into a corner and plopped down on the couch in the living room. He threw his head back and closed his eyes.

He had found out his left wrist was, indeed, broke. He was going to have to keep this itchy caste on for months and it was already bothering him.

The last week had been pure hell. The undercover agent was alright; he was just loopy for a few hours, trying to figure out what had happened. Jason had received a crack skull when Sirius bashed the chain into his head, but after a Healer had looked at him, was alright.

Jason had been tried, and Sirius and Remus had to stay a few extra days as witnesses. He had been found guilty and was sentenced a lifetime in Azkaban. The rest of the research team had been sent with lighter sentences. Sirius had danced as soon as he was out of the court building.

Sirius felt weight added to his lap and open his eyes. Two golden eyes were staring right into his. Sirius smiled as two warm lips met his.

Sirius wrapped his arms around the werewolf's waist, pulling him closer. He felt slightly cold hands begin to slide up under his shirt.

The raven-haired pulled away and was greeted by a very sexy, disappointed pout from his love, "By the way, Moony, the next time you want to go somewhere out of the country, I'll sick a cursed bludger after you."

Remus laughed, "Agreed."

Sirius grinned and pulled his Remmy back down towards him to continue their previous activities. He finally realized what was missing in his life this whole time.

Remus.

_Fin_

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Holy monkey cheese on a stick! I finished! And it only took me forever! I'm really, really, really, really sorry this chapter took so long, but I have been so busy, and then school is going to start up soon! But I finished! Yea me!!! I want to thank all of my readers for being so patient and reviewing such great reviews!!! Sirius and Remus plushies for everyone!!!

Ok, and about some recently asked questions about my other stories:

Snape's Angel: I'm sorry for all those that have reviewed and I never replied. I haven't checked that story in the longest time. I have a major writer's block with this one, and don't know when I'll be getting another chapter of it up.

Silver Blood: Yet another story I am having writer's block with. I'm sorry! I'm trying! Please forgive me!


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